The Lost Egyptian Empire
by FallTigerKisa
Summary: Atlantis The Lost Empire from Disney meets Yu-Gi-Oh! Storyline is Atlantis but characters and events are based off of Yu-Gi-Oh. This has M/M yaoi themes so please do not get offended. Pairings YxYY, AtemuxHeba, SetoxJou, BxR, MxYM, and implied SethxKisara, MokubaxShizuka, ManaxMahado, and HondaxOtogi. Yes this has lemons and I'm contemplating adding MPreg. Better summary inside.
1. Prologue

Summary: Yami and his younger brother Heba have been spoon-fed tales about Ancient Egypt and the Lost Island of Atlantis from the time they were babies. Though Yami has grown older and more skeptical towards the tales he once loved, his brother Heba has become just as enamored of them as their Grandfather. Then their Grandfather, obsessed with all things history, dies. Heba, having become a history scholar, and Yami, as a veteran adventurer in his pursuit for all things regarding games, both get a mysterious summons from their Grandfathers old friend. This old friend had information that before he had died their Grandfather had actually discovered a piece of written literature that contained the location to the sunken island of Atlantis. The two of them get offered a chance to see for themselves if the fabled Atlantis was in actuality a real place, and to discover the mysteries of why it is that it sunk.

Disclaimer: I, FallTigerKisa, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Neither it's characters, themes, nor plots (no matter how much I would have loved to make it into a yaoi). Nor do I, FallTigerKisa, own Atlantis The Lost Empire.

This idea I came up with when I was trying to fall asleep one night. Please note that I try to make the story-line with its assorted humor as close to the movie Atlantis as I possibly can, but I do enhance it so that I have as little OOC-ness as possible. I thought about making Yugi be Milo but the whole idea of Yami being saved by him is just a little too out of character for me (but it was just a way too weird to make Yami into the dorky Milo), so I made the brothers and cousins. Please note that I have made the characters as close to their anime/manga form as they can be while still being in their Atlantis characters. The jokes and humorous scenes are quoted from the Atlantis movie but changed slightly to fit the Yu-Gi-Oh characters (although some of the Atlantean characters have no Atlantis based counterparts, but I felt like I just had to squeeze them in somehow).

Also note, the Atlantis in the movie seems more closely formed to Native tribes and Greek/Latin myth, while in my fan-fiction it is more closely related culturally to Egypt than Greece. It is still technically water-related but it has Egyptian themes closer to the desert. You'll understand as I write later.

Please Note: THIS IS RATED M FOR A REASON! Filled with juicy yaoi and hentai goodness and enough lemons to make a roomful of fangirls sigh in bliss (or at least enough to make me satisfied without destroying the plot). Painings:YxYY, AtemuxHeba, SetoxJou, BxR, MxYM, and slight HxO, DMxDMG, SethxKisara, and MokubaxShizuka.

**"Bold" **is in a different language and I will have the English translation in (Parenthesis). ~_Italicized~ _with little squiggly lines are mind-to-mind conversations. And to really mess with you all I might just put them both together in which they are mind-to-mind in a different language. I assume you all do not need an example.

This does not include bashing of any kind, I have a high respect for all Yu-Gi-Oh characters (except Bandit Keith A.K.A Rourke) and I based their Atlantis counterparts off of strange connections I made up in my own twisted mind, so please do not get offended if an otherwise good Yu-Gi-Oh character is given a weird Atlantis counterpart, and vice versa.

Please Review! I take all comments; positive or negative, UNLESS they have to do with the yaoi, homosexual thing, in which I have only to say "DON"T LIKE, DON'T READ!" Can't get any simpler than that.

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**The Lost Egyptian Empire: Prologue**

**_"… in a single day and night of misfortune, the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea." –Plato, 360 B.C._**

5,000 Years Before

Blue, an endless sea of blue; where ocean and sky met was merely a blending of different tones of that same professed color. Clouds of puffy whiteness floated along on the upper, lighter color of blue, given the simple name of sky. Ripples flowed gently accompanying the sound of waves, causing distortions to cross the deeper shade of blue, dubbed the sea. The sun was high in the sky leaving a crystal-clear clarity to the world, a sense of rightness and tranquility.

But then it was shattered, as a blinding light lit the horizon for a split second in an explosion of light. The light was gone a second later as small shadows appeared on the horizon in its place, gaining speed as they traveled faster and faster towards their destination. The sea churned, flowing towards the horizon where the figures were racing away from. Nine or ten smallish shadows were trailed by a much larger shadow as the sea seemed to rise up above them, as though trying to play a dangerous game of tag. Small, humanoid-shaped figures rode the smaller shadows that were quickly becoming recognizable as giant creatures like nothing seen on the planet Earth. Giant, multicolored birds and lithe dragons flapped enormous wings trying to speed their flight in a race versus life and death. Wings pumped faster on several blue colored dragons called Winged Dragon Guardians and feathered Skull Red Birds rushed to catch up. The remaining few Sonic Birds put on bursts of speed from their highly-technological booster-rockets in the hope of out-racing the accumulating wave. The massive shadow trailing behind the smaller winged creatures, as the largest of the creatures, a massive Roc of the Valley, had an assortment of humanoids on its back, greatly reducing wind speed and causing the bird to not go as fast as it wanted; or, sadly, needed. Golden harnesses adorned the fleeing creatures that seemed to strangely impair their flight not at all.

Humans, or at least they appeared human, gripped the harnesses attaching them to their respective beasts, hunching over to reduce wind resistance in the feeble hope to survive the growing tsunami that by now towered over them by many times. The wind caught and scattered the barely mumbled words that needed no translations for any language to understand; prayers.

Suddenly, one of the riders on one of the Winged Dragon Guardians turned to his left and pointed accusingly at the rider of a nearby Skull Red Bird and shouted angrily, "**Gi puukh! Wi'shi tery ret tigiden! **(You fool! You've destroyed us all!)"

To which the other looked frighteningly ahead, not even giving the other a glance, and shouted back in the same strange language, "**Sho kuuton deshpon hetokoyiru! Kan'neh salan Atlantis! **(The wave is gaining! We have to warn Atlantis!)" Pointing behind him at the all-encompassing wave they both paled as the water splashed their beasts.

"**Dehsukaazen yohteruza! **(Too late!)" The original screamed as the wave encompassed both of them and their beasts in a downpour of death. Five other beasts and riders were also taken over by the rapid tsunami, and they also screamed out a terrified yell before the wave crashed over them. Twenty people cried out in a split moment of terror as the Roc of the Valley let out a keening cry when it felt wetness on its tail feathers, before it too was engulfed in the wave.

The only two still flying were the Sonic Birds, and their riders spent barely a second to wipe away stray tears of loss from their eyes, before urging their Sonic Birds to go even faster. Incredibly, the two sped ahead at an even faster pace, outdistancing the wave. Enough for them to finally see the blurring green of grass from the outlaying islands that surrounded their beloved city of Atlantis. Smaller islands with their tiny towns were overwhelmed in split seconds from the massive wave and still it kept coming. The two riders on their Sonic Birds were finally within distance for their transceiver jewelry to send out distress calls to the capital of Atlantis. The messages for everyone within distance to head to the capital had just been transmitted when they cut off abruptly as the Sonic Birds were finally overtaken.

The sprawling city could see the massive tsunami bearing towards them as emergency alarms sounded, "** Heh'wanptok paenkulah tehen'mpuwa ehtemphohkoh! **(Everyone to the shelters!)", causing giant gongs to be banged repeatedly in urgent warnings that resounded through the streets for miles making people panic. People screamed and lost control of other strange creatures; some flying away in sheer panic. Some creatures simply disappeared as frantic owners chanted magical words to send their creatures back to the Shadow Realms from whence the creatures originated from, terrified that their life-partners would also die horrible deaths.

People rushed and crowded, heading towards the capital, all trying to at least get past the five statues that rimmed the inner city. One of the statues depicted an ugly golden man with a large headdress and had chains binding his wrists and ankles. Another humanoid statue was of a horrifying, black, golem-looking creature with blue markings with a drastically pointed headdress and large horns that flared out from his head. The largest of the statues was of a lithely coiled dragon of the brightest crimson, with two mouths of razor-sharp teeth. The brightest of the statues, made entirely of gold, was of a slightly humanoid body with the physique of a bird. The final statue was the most beautiful in that it was made of platinum and depicted a woman with chrome wings and gold markings. These were the five greatest creatures of the Shadow Realm and were said to only be conjured by the royal family. They were called Exodia the Forbidden One, Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon, the Winged Dragon of Ra, and the Creator God of Light, Horakhty. These were the five guardians that the Atlanteans worshiped as gods, equal only to their sovereigns and they took relief from the familiar presences of them. They symbolized faith and hope in times of darkness, of which this was a time of.

At the palace two small boys were running, trying to keep up with their mothers the queens, Ishtar and Innana. The twin women were the only children of the last king of Atlantis and were given the whole of Atlantis to rule together when he died. They were much beloved and were both given the Spell of Life causing them to give birth to their two boys even though they had no husbands. The queens, mirror images of each other with bronze skin and long black hair with blonde bangs and magenta and maroon tips, hurried across the courtyard, trying to reach the safety of the palace walls while each held the hand of their respective son. Ishtar pulled along her young son Yugi, his strangely milk-pale hand clenched tightly in her grasp, while Innana and her son Atemu kept pace with her. Their stately gowns billowed around them as they ran towards the awaiting awning, but Yugi tripped suddenly causing Ishtar to stop with him in order to pick him back up. Yugi, the younger of the two princes by six years, could not understand why it was that the sky had gone so dark and had dropped his little Kuriboh doll which he tried to go back for, but the forward momentum of his mother kept him from reaching it and he fell as a result. Innana and Atemu, who had ran ahead a few paces before noticing that they had stopped, rushed back towards them, Innana urging her twin to hurry. But Ishtar had always been a little too emotional and squatted down to shake her son in a worried reprimand, "**Yugi'to! Tohne sipugquayt! Namt'pwe nahna sykim! **(Yugi! Just leave it! There's no time!)"

Yugi nodded his spiky tri-colored hair, his amethyst-colored eyes filling with tears, but his mother had already turned her head away, a look of surprise and wonder on her face as she turned her head towards the sky. The spotlights from the sky turned from their original warning red color to a golden color as the light touched her and her sister Innana. Innana had the same look on her face, as though the sky was singing and the gods and goddesses themselves were showing them the most perfect of worlds. Their necklaces, beaten gold inset with precious stones and the all-seeing Eye of Ra, began to glow golden and their eyes began to shine with that same golden light.

Suddenly, all of the spotlights began circling around the two queens until they coalesced together and shone onto their Eye's of Ra, sending what looked like jolts of lightning through the two queens. Yugi, his mother's hands still holding his shoulders, looked up at the sky in worried incomprehension while Atemu stared at his mother in confused alarm. The two queens suddenly began lifting into the air under the two blindingly golden spotlights. Yugi felt a sudden tugging at his neck and looked up causing the chain of his toy Millennium Puzzle, a three-dimensional golden puzzle in the shape of an upside-down pyramid with an Eye of Ra at its center, to lift over his head and float upward with his mother. With her hands on his shoulders the chain had inadvertently gotten caught between her clenched fingers and she still retained it while in her trance. Yugi cried out in surprise while Atemu desperately tried to grab his own mother from the light, but wound up with a piece of shredded cloth as the bottom of Innana's dress gave way to the weight of her son. Atemu fell back to the ground, a piece of white and gold embroidered silk still clenched in his hand as he looked up in mute terror.

Yugi, looking up at his mother as she was lifted higher into the light, lifted his hands, reaching for her, and shouted out with a child's need for comfort, "**Makim! Makim!** (Mother! Mother!)" His voice broke as tears streaked down his face and Atemu, although the older and more mature of the two, joined him in his calling for their mothers, hands still clutching the ripped piece of silk like a lifeline.

Golden lights began emanating form the hands of the five Guardian statues as a force-field-like shield began to spread outward over the city and upwards. Civilians crashed into the shielding, unable to get through; some banging on it in the desperate hope to reach the other side, to safety. The tsunami rolled closer, destroying buildings and snatching up people as it went. Those on the outside of the shielding knew terror in their hearts as they saw their death approaching; family members and friends gripped each other tightly for temporary comfort as hopelessness and desolation swept through them. They held each other as the wave swept over them and they knew no more.

The golden lights began to burn brighter and they were no longer two lights but one, and two figures sprinted across the pathway to reach the two princes. High Priest Seth, the twin queens' cousin, and High Advisor Siamun, the old king of Atlantis' closest friend, ran to the two young princes and swept them into their arms, shielding their eyes with their robes. "** Hoh'kepemjen moa tera Yugi'to, Atemu'to! Kimn dera! **(Close your eyes Yugi, Atemu! Look away!)" Siamun shouted to the two young boys as he and Seth bowed their own heads over the spiky hair of the two cousins to keep from going blind. The golden light that had been the two queens was being circled by an astonishingly fast rotating light as the golden light grew brighter and the force-field closed over the top to form a dome over the city.

The light grew even brighter until the wave crashed against the force-field. The tremendous force that had caused the tsunami crashed against the immovable force field and, unable to move or penetrate it, swept downward towards the bedrock that housed the city. The island groaned and shook while the force-field stayed strong and still radiated its golden hue. Then, with an earsplitting crack, the foundation of the city broke as cracks filled the Earth under what was the city of Atlantis and the wave crashed over the top of the dome. The golden-hued shield grew dimmer under the waves and the city of Atlantis sank beneath the waves; never to resurface again.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I, FallTigerKisa, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Neither it's characters, themes, nor plots (no matter how much I would have loved to make it into a yaoi). Nor do I, FallTigerKisa, own Atlantis The Lost Empire.

Please Note: THIS IS RATED M FOR A REASON! Filled with juicy yaoi and hentai goodness and enough lemons to make a roomful of fangirls sigh in bliss (or at least enough to make me satisfied without destroying the plot). Painings:YxYY, AtemuxHeba, SetoxJou, BxR, MxYM, and slight HxO, DMxDMG, SethxKisara, and MokubaxShizuka.

"**Bold" **is in a different language and I will have the English translation in (Parenthesis). ~_Italicized~ _with little squiggly lines are mind-to-mind conversations. And to really mess with you all I might just put them both together in which they are mind-to-mind in a different language. I assume you all do not need an example.

This does not include bashing of any kind, I have a high respect for all Yu-Gi-Oh characters (except Bandit Keith A.K.A Rourke) and I based their Atlantis counterparts off of strange connections I made up in my own twisted mind, so please do not get offended if an otherwise good Yu-Gi-Oh character is given a weird Atlantis counterpart, and vice versa.

Please Review! I take all comments; positive or negative, UNLESS they have to do with the yaoi, homosexual thing, in which I have only to say "DON"T LIKE, DON'T READ!" Can't get any simpler than that.

Also, the perspective will change between characters and I will have their ~~_**Name**_~~ in bold italics between four squiggly lines in the middle of the page. This is in third-person but the perspective will change; the story will follow that person and his/her adventures but still in third-person.

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**The Lost Egyptian Empire: Chapter 1**

Domino City, Japan

_**~~Heba Mutou~~**_

The bustling city roared with the sounds of traffic and music. Domino City, although technically a city, was not as large or as overly technological as other, more famous and touristy cities would be. Still, it could not be deemed something as puny as a mere town; skyscrapers littered the city, rising above and beyond the small mom-and-pop shops that had been in the city well before it was even a city. And like any city, Domino City had its different districts: the rich district, the upper-class district, the overly large middle-class districts, the lower-class districts, business districts, shopping districts, school districts, extracurricular districts, and so on and so forth.

Out of the busy city, near the more rural area of the city, was the Garden District, and there was where one could find parks and gardens, libraries, and a few show centers; a relatively quiet and tranquil part of the city. In the center of this district was the Domino City Museum. This museum hosted a variety of historical, archeological, and national treasures for display, and was without a doubt one of the top museums of the world. But, unbeknownst to the museums' Board of Directors, the single-most precious treasure they had in their museum could be found in the boiler room underneath the Egyptian wing; and what an underappreciated treasure he was.

Heba Mutou, Head of Cartography and Linguistics (sadly, only because he was the only one interested in those fields at this specific museum), worked in the boiler room underneath the Egyptian wing of the Domino City Museum, sorting through ancient scrolls and texts working on translating them; but his true passions lie in Ancient Egyptian histories, Egyptian texts, and dead languages. With the room packed into a smallish space for free movement, Heba stood in front of a rotating blackboard with strange runes and the translation of 'Coast of Ireland' beneath them and a podium off to one side. Adjacent to the blackboard was a desk overflowing with books and scans of ancient scrolls. All around, crates stacked floor-to-ceiling in this pathetic excuse for an office, accompanying the smell of wood, dust, and mustiness.

But, regardless of all this, Heba looked towards the shadowed figures with an expression of shy earnestness; his small figure making him resemble a child only increased the effect. Tri-colored hair shot up in gravity-defying spikes from his head as a mass of black, tipped with purple, and blonde bangs framed a cherubic face dominated by wide amethyst-colored eyes; very noticeable against his honey-colored skin. Dressed in comfortable brown slacks and a white button-up shirt he looked more like he should have been on his way to an archeological dig, not stuck inside a dusty storage/ boiler room.

Trying to look poised and confident (and failing miserably), he cleared his throat and began speaking to the shadow-hazed figures. "Good afternoon, gentlemen," he began in a deceptively child-like voice, "First off, I'd like to thank this Board for taking the time to hear my proposal." Clearing his throat again, somewhat nervously but with growing confidence, he continued, "Now, we've all heard of a legend of Atlantis. A continent somewhere in the mid-Atlantic that was home to an advanced civilization possessing technology that was far beyond our own. That according to our friend Plato was suddenly stuck by some cataclysmic event that sank it beneath the sea."

Bending down to display a series of papers, the first of which was decorated with the word 'Atlantis' which he gestured to with a tanned hand before continuing in his monologue, " Now some of you may ask, 'Why Atlantis? It's just a myth, isn't it? Pure fantasy.' Well, that is where you'd be wrong." A child-like grin lit young Heba's eyes, though his face only gave away a hint of a wondrous smile, as his finger waved in a slight negative gesture towards the shadowy figures and he placed the first page down showing a black-and-white photo of the Egyptian sphinx and pyramids. "Ten thousand years before the Egyptians built the pyramids," another page was placed down showing scans of a piece of wall with a strange, technological device emanating light with two humanoid shapes that seemed to be regarding it, "Atlantis had electricity," that page was also placed down, the next one describing another scan of a stone wall describing the anatomy of a person, "advanced medicine," the pages were flipping faster with his growing passion for the subject, as the next one was yet another scan of a stone wall showing people riding fantastical beings that looked vaguely familiar, "even the power of flight. 'Impossible!' You say, but no, no, not for them."

Heba's eyes were definitely sparkling now, with the radiant light of a passionate dream, and his hidden smile was not quite as hidden as it previously was. Flipping faster through multiple scans, each drawn by different cultures all depicting the same humanoid people with similarly recognizable creatures, Heba kept going through his speech, "Numerous ancient cultures, all over the globe, agree that Atlantis possessed a power source of some kind; more powerful than steam, than coal, more powerful even than our modern internal-combustion engines." Here, Heba becomes more serious. He points to a series of scan depicting the strange beasts that the humanoid people were riding. "As you can see here, these creatures are found nowhere else in the world and are, in fact, only mentioned in references to either a 'hidden island' or a 'magical utopia'. Only in ancient Egypt and Greece are the creatures told to have come from Atlantis; multiple Grecian texts refer to Atlanteans harnessing the powers these creatures possess with this same energy source for their use. However, if you gentleman would please notice here," here he shows a series of texts, all from Egypt, depicting much more recognizable creatures with strange writings, "these creatures are much more recognizable as the popular monsters used in the new card game Duel Monsters. The original idea for the monsters from Duel Monsters, were based off of the ancient cataloguing of these Atlantean creatures recorded in an underground shrine discovered in Egypt, that is believed to be a shrine dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Seshat, the goddess of scribes and record-keeping, and Thoth, the Egyptian god of prophecy and divination." Heba states all of this with a small pause at the end, until he seems to catch himself and blushes in embarrassment before mumbling a quiet, "Perhaps I'm getting a little off track with the dual monsters," before quickly looking up towards the figures again and states in a louder voice, "Please disregard what I just said, gentlemen."

Clearing his throat self-consciously, he tries to appeal to their sense of… well, 'money-induced tendencies' as he continues, "Gentleman, with this form of power-source that was reputed to give Atlantis the power of electricity before it's time, I propose that we find Atlantis, find that power source, and bring it back to the surface," he finishes with a flourish in an awe-struck voice, seeming to gaze off into the distance.

Blinking a few times to retrieve his train of thought, he flips to the next page to show a wall that contains Egyptian hieroglyphs that depict a golden box, and he goes on to explain to the silent figures, "Now this is a scan, from one of the walls depicted in the same shrine to Seshat and Thoth, that describes a box that holds inside it a book called the Sheppard's Journal. It is said to have held a detailed description from an Egyptian priest at the shrine who had divinated the exact circumstances revolving around Atlantis and holds its exact whereabouts." Here he paused, knowing how outlandish and fantasy-based it sounded, and blushed at the thought but was unable to stop in his search for dream of Atlantis.

Pointing to the blackboard, he continued, "The Box containing the Journal was said to have been handed off to a King of Greece, who were the Ancient Egyptian's allies at the time so that it wouldn't fall into evil hands during times of war. However, en route to Greece the Journal was stolen by European pirates, which is rather ironic," he said under his breath the last with a wry smile. "Now, based on a centuries-old translation of a Greek text, historians have believed that the Box containing the Journal has resided somewhere off the coast of Ireland after its initial theft," turning away towards the podium he lifted an immense shield that seemed bigger than someone his size should be able to carry, and indeed he seemed to be having a difficult time even picking the stone shield up, he continued breathlessly, "But after comparing the text to the letterings found on this Greek shield, I found that one of the letters had been mistranslated. So, by changing this letter, " he scrubbed one of the letters on the blackboard off using his sleeve, quite an amazing feat since he still held the heavy shield, "and inserting the correct one, we find that the correct location to the Box holding the Sheppard's Journal, the key to Atlantis, lies NOT in Ire-Ireland, gentlemen," he stuttered as he readjusted the heavy shield, his voice growing stronger and more forceful with every sentence in growing influence to his rising passion on this subject, he finished by writing a 'C' where the previous 'R' had been erased, "but in ICEland." He tapped the board to show his triumph. A smug expression on his face, he kept his voice down and tried to keep his face motionless as he whispered to himself, "Pause for effect."

A few seconds later he addressed the silent figures, "Gentlemen," although this came out almost as a bark as the weight from the shield forced him to put it down in surprise. Gracefully rising back up, as though he hadn't almost squished his fingers he continued, "I'll take your questions now."

But before anything could be said or done an unseen phone rang, emanating from behind the blackboard. Looking embarrassed, Heba held up a finger towards the figures and asked in nervous embarrassment, "Oh. Would you gentlemen please excuse me for a moment?" Leaning against the blackboard, Heba used its spinning capabilities to hoist himself over the top and lay across it to reach the black rotary phone on the other side. Picking it up, he stated with a prideful recitation, "Cartography and Linguistics, Heba Mutou speaking." An angry voice could be heard shouting at Heba though the phone as Heba's face slowly wilted and lost their newfound confidence and pride, as he appeased in a low-pitched and a seemingly whipped-puppy voice, "Yeah, yeah. Jus-Just a second," he put the phone on hold and tilted himself back to the other side, while the blackboard slowly twisted to show its other side which showed a drawn depiction of the coast of Iceland and a trail leading into it stopping at a marked X. Heba walked a few paces to the side and flipped on a light, illuminating the room to show the shadowed figures to be nothing more than Egyptian busts and statues with top hats on their heads. Behind them was the central boiler conductor, which was Heba's new destination, and he climbed over the table holding the busts and moved one very carefully to fit his small frame with a murmured, "Excuse me, **Yamamoto-san**(Mister Yamamoto)."

Reaching the central board with all kinds of knobs and temperature displays to tell the pressure and heat of the boiler, Heba twisted a few knobs and whacked the central board with a monkey-wrench. It gave a small explosion-like sound before it made a smooth sound somewhat reminiscent of a kitten purring (if fire can give cat-like sounds). Heba hurried back to the phone where the angry sounds could still be heard and, lying on top of the blackboard once again, and asked bleakly, "How's that? Is that any better?" The angry voice seemed to have calmed down somewhat but it still spoke to him in a haughty voice, as Heba got quieter and quieter in his small voice, "Yeah… Uh-huh… Yeah, yeah… You're-You're welcome… Alright… Bye."

At the end of it, the light was clearly gone from his eyes and he looked abjectly depressed, before taking a deep breath and plastering a large smile on his face for his inanimate audience. Flipping off the blackboard he failed to notice that the chalk of where he was resting on the blackboard had left a perfect imprint on is shirt of the route, as he continued his rehearsal speech, "Now, as you can see by the map," he pointed to the map, only then realizing that the map had become plastered on his shirt. Realizing this he stuttered a bit before fitting himself in front of the blackboard so his shirt aligned with the rest of the map, and continued looking embarrassed, "um, map that I've drawn, I've drawn the route that should take myself and a crew across the Southern coast of Iceland to retrieve the Box and the Journal." He concluded after following the trail with his fingers 'walking' along the dotted line to reach the X on his chest.

Suddenly, a cuckoo-clock sounded with a little blue bird flying out in time to the chime, as the clock showed 4 o'clock. Wiping the chalk off of his shirt Heba exclaimed excitedly, "AH! Showtime." Gathering the materials he needed, he pep talked himself in his nervous excitement and, underlying all of that, hope, "Well this is it. I'm finally getting out of the Dungeon." He only had one more stop to make, to a small shrine with a centerpiece that was currently closed. Taking the framed picture in front of it, he smiled tenderly at the familial scene captured in time, silently reminiscing about the moment in which it had been captured. The photo showed an old man, he was short with the same type of spiky hair that Heba had only completely gray, with two small children, one on each lap. One was milk-pale with tri-colored hair, ebony spikes tipped in maroon with blonde bangs and three blonde streaks, like lightning, speared upwards through his hair. The small boy had a somewhat more angular face and sharp crimson eyes, as opposed to the other child that was obviously Heba as a child, what with his ebony hair tipped in purple, with none of the blond lightning effects, desert-tanned skin, wide amethyst-colored eyes, and more cherubic face. Both of the boys were looking at their grandfather in adoration and there was obviously no competition between affections; the grandfather just as obviously loved both of his grandsons equally.

As Heba remembered the day the picture was taken he could almost see the scene playing out in front of him. He, sitting on his grandfathers lap, talking animatedly on how when he grew up he would become an archeologist just like his grandfather, as he reached up towards his grandfathers archeologist hat. He remembered Yami, his twin, laughing and saying that when he grew up he was going to become a Pharaoh in his own right, how he was going to become the King of Games. Their grandfather, Sugoroku Mutou, chuckled at his rambunctious grandsons while taking his archeologist hat off and secured it on top of Heba's head; the only problem was that he himself never wore the hat because his spikes lifted the hat off his head, and so it did for Heba too, making him look ridiculous. Heba looked slightly embarrassed, his bronze skin gaining a slightly reddish tint that only those who know him would notice, making his twin brother Yami and Sugoroku chuckle at his funny appearance. A moment later Heba joined them in their laughter.

Back to the present, Heba gladly opened the small shrine and inside was the very same hat that his grandfather took with him on his archeological digs. Reaching inside, he took out the hat and happily put it on his head like he had so many years ago. But his happy glow turned to annoyance as the hat, once again, refused to go any farther than his spikes, so with a sigh he returned it to its place inside the shrine.

A rattling sound could be heard from the pneumatic tube as a cylindrical canister was deposited to where Heba could reach it. Surprised but unalarmed, he picked up the canister and read aloud what was written on the paper inside, "Dear **Mutou-san **(Mister Mutou), this is to inform you that your meeting today has been moved up from 4:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m." As he read along, Heba's face disintegrated into growing confusion and dread. With growing disbelief, he turned to the cuckoo-clock as though in question of its time; it read 4:10 by now. In a voice rife with disbelief, he couldn't help but exclaim softly, "What?" Another canister rattled down the pneumatic tube. Dropping the previous note, he grabbed the new canister with dread and hope, hoping that it was just a joke that the Board of Directors was just playing on him, as he read the new note aloud in a stronger but still confused voice, "Dear Mutou-san, due to your absence the Board has decided to reject your proposal. Have a nice weekend, **Hishimoto-san's **(Mister Hishimoto) office?!" His voice rising at the sudden betrayal of the Boards' promise, fury screeched through Heba's veins as he shouted out, "THEY CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!"

Running up the stairs, his research materials clasped to under his arms, he sprinted towards the hallway that hosted the Board of Directors meetings. The door to the room opened and even at the end of the hall Heba could hear the condescending voices of the Board of Directors talking amongst themselves. "Oh, I swear, that young Mutou gets crazier every year!" The five members of the Board paused a moment to put on their coats, as another pitched in "If I ever hear the word 'Atlantis'," the last word was dragged out sneeringly, "again, I'll step in front of a train!" The first one to have spoken laughed, and tapped him while half-jokingly stating, "I'll push you!"

To this they all laughed, shredding Heba's pride in his dreams, but he continued running towards them stubbornly. He refused to let them hurt him as they had hurt his grandfather, and he absolutely refused to give up his dreams, he had already seen the results of dreams scorned and broken by the cruelty of such people; but most of all, he refused to allow these people to break their promise and they had promised to at least hear him out. A small part of him wanted to just curl up in a corner and cry, but his twin brother Yami would never do that and he admired his brother too much to impugn the name they both shared. Fury still simmered in his veins but Heba had been raised to always be polite to his elders and so, even though it galled him, he called out in an urgently polite voice, "Hishimoto-san! Hishimoto-san! Excuse me, Hishimoto-san!"

All of the Board members jumped in surprise and panic at the sound of Heba's voice and they all began running away from him as though his fanatical ideas were contagious. As Heba ran after them, he couldn't help but be amused at the sight of five powerfully connected and elderly men being frightened off by the stubborn tenacity of one, small twenty-three year old. His amusement however turned to insulted panic as the Board members ran into their offices' and locked the doors, leaving only one of them left since his office was locked and he didn't have the time to fish them out and unlock his door until Heba was upon him. So the fat man did the best thing he could think of. He his behind a tiny plant and prayed that Heba hadn't seen him, regardless of the fact that his white overcoat was clearly noticeable behind the skinny plant. Heba merely moved one of the fronds away to see the man's face with a confused, "Um, **Kanekura-san** (Mister Kanekura)?" Kanekura-san gave a sickly smile at being caught before improvising and opening his umbrella in Heba's face, causing him to step back just enough for the old fat man to race past, ignoring him. Undeterred but getting more desperate Heba continued calling out to him as he chased after him, not noticing that he was dropping some of his research materials.

As Kanekura-san climbed into his waiting, black convertible Heba chased after him, trying to get him to listen with promises of new evidence. Sadly as the driver was getting into the drivers seat Kanekura-san's window was rolled down so Heba reached inside and deposited all of his research into Kanekura-san's lap with a triumphant, and slightly breathless, "STOP!" Pulling out a paper he unrolled it, trying to show Kanekura-san in the vain hope that he would listen; unfortunately Kanekura-san wouldn't even let him get more than a few words out before he had had enough and snapped churlishly, "This museum funds scientific expeditions based on FACTS!" He growled at Heba, scooping up everything in his lap and dropping it unceremoniously into Heba's arms. Fed up with the crazy youth he continued on his tirade, "Not expeditions following legends and folklore!" Seeming to notice the whipped-puppy look in Heba's eyes he softened his tone, nobody could resist Heba's sorrowful look with the possible exception of his twin; but he was still a very greedy businessman and he continued in a falsely conciliatory tone, "And besides, we need you, here. We depend on you."

Heba, starving for exactly that kind of praise and sense of purpose, couldn't help but to ask hopefully, "You do?"

Seeing the child fall into the trap he had set, since that was all he had ever really seen Sugoroku's grandson, a young man with a child-like body, cherubic face, and wide, trusting eyes, he spoke to the young man as he would a child, "Yes. What, with winter coming, that boiler is going to need a lot of attention."

Confusion coloring his tone Heba could only parrot, "Boiler?" As Kanekura-san urged his driver to drive. Heba ran to keep up, pulling out a map that showed his earlier drawing of Iceland, trying to show Kanekura-san who looked at his watch to see how long the excursion had cost him on time, Heba desperately trying to show him stated, "But Kanekura-san, there's a Journal. It's in Iceland! I'm sure of it this time!" To which Kanekura-san merely rolled up his tinted window, not even bothering to look at him, instead staring out the front of the car. The car shook as Heba, in his reckless desperation, climbed onto the front of the moving car and pulled out his trump card, plastering the piece of paper to the windshield stating, "Sir! I really hoped it wouldn't come to this, but this is a letter of resignation! If you reject my proposal I'll-," he didn't get to finish as the driver swerved the car to knock him off. The car continued on, still ignoring him, until Heba shouted at him, "I'LL QUIT!"

At this the car squealed to a halt and backed up to where he lay on the sidewalk. Heba, thinking he had won, glared in seriousness as the window rolled down and continued, "I mean it, sir. If you refuse to fund my proposal-," he was rudely interrupted by the caustic voice of the unimpressed Kanekura-san.

"You'll what? Flush your career down the toilet just like your grandfather?" That last one was accompanied by twirling motion around his head that cut deeper into Heba's soul than anything else this man could have said. Uncaring to the flash of agony that sparked in Heba's eyes at his callous words Kanekura-san continued, "You have a lot of potential Mutou-san, don't throw it all away chasing fairytales."

But Heba refused to give up on his dream and stated, "But I can PROVE Atlantis exists!"

Unconvinced and uncaring, Kanekura-san reached into his jacket and pulled out a few quarters and tossed them at Heba before replying scornfully, "You want to go on an expedition? Here. Take a bus to the Nizu River and jump in! Maybe a dip in the cold water will clear your head!" With that he rolled the window back up and yelled to his driver to continue on. The car splashed through a water puddle and sprayed Heba with the dirty water. His spiky hair drooping with the water, but still gravity-defying, matched his mood perfectly as Heba wiped his face of the grimy water and sighed in defeat before, trying to keep upbeat, stated in a slightly strained voice, "I hope Yami is having more luck than I am."

* * *

New York City, New York. The United States of America

_**~~Yami Mutou~~**_

The crowd roared in chaotic excitement as crimson eyes narrowed to regard their opponent. The opponent had bluish-green hair cut in a bowl-shaped style while ugly, yellow-rimmed glasses framed blue eyes that might have been attractive if not for the way the were squinting in deceitful cunning. His opponent glared at him in hatred and disbelief as the his best Duel Monster, Queen Bee was destroyed by Yami's Gaia the Dragon Champion and reduced his life points to zero. He, Insector Haga, had lost to the spiky tri-colored haired freak that had already been given the title King of Games in Japan.

Yami smirked at the arrogant pipsqueak in front of him having known that, despite the close call mere moments ago, he would win against this foolish braggart. After all, not only was he the King of Games, he would never lose to someone with so little respect for someone else's cards as the aqua-haired teen did. Yami had watched and intervened when Haga had tried to throw one of his opponents' best cards into a fire before the tournament to lessen the danger to his own chances of winning in the tournament. The kid whose card he had saved had lost in the semi-finals against Yami himself, but he had tried his best without giving Yami any slack despite his gratitude towards him, of which Yami had respected. If he had to lose to anyone he would prefer it was fairly and to someone with that amount of integrity, not some cheating fool. He didn't always feel so superior to those he won against but he always showed them his disdain if they were cheaters or all around not nice people; and he had enjoyed crushing Insector Haga's bugs.

So, ignoring the post-match handshake, he exited his chair and collected his cards and walked away from Haga without a backwards glance. He was still the reigning champ, no matter the country he was in, and having won he went to go collect his prize of $100,000 and trophy. The trophy he would keep to add to his collection, but the one-hundred grand he was planning to anonymously deliver to the honorable opponent that he had beaten in the semi-finals; he had overheard that the man was only playing for the prize money in order to pay for a medical treatment for their younger sibling. If Yami could understand one thing in this world it was the willingness to do anything to protect a younger sibling. Besides he had enough money to be comfortable, though not particularly lavish, and still keep his grandfathers' toy shop in Domino up and running. After he was done with the tournament he had been planning to go back home, he had been away for almost three months on his quest around North America, talking to the elders of the North American Indian tribes in regards to their different forms of games. He wasn't called the King of Games for nothing; he had an thirst for knowledge games from all cultures, probably stemming from his grandfather owning a game shop and being an archaeologist to combine the two as a source of awe-inducing interest for the crimson-eyed young man.

But he was tired and wished he could go home, this busy city had lost its appeal to him already since the only place he could truly relax was a small two-story game shop with a house on the second story to call home. Besides, more than anything, he missed his family, his brother, his twin. Although he and Heba haven't exactly been on the best terms with each other in regards to their work, they were still family; in fact they were each other's only family left. Their parents had died in a car crash when they were younger and their mother's father, their only family left, had taken them in and raised the twin boys. But, sadly, Sugoroku had died last year, leaving a kind of rift between Yami and his twin Heba. Heba couldn't seem to get past the old tales that Sugoroku had told them as, what were in Yami's opinion, fairytales, and spent all of his time trying to prove something that had slowly killed their grandfather. Yami was worried that soft, naïve Heba would eventually be destroyed by the harsh world that didn't believe in fairytales and were merciless to anyone who did; just like how the world slowly beat the light out of their grandfather's eyes causing him to die of a broken dream. Yami himself had almost fallen prey to such fallacy before he learned better, although he would never admit that it had left a barren hole in Yami's heart and soul that still ached whenever he thought of her.

Meanwhile, Heba just couldn't seem to understand his need to be away from his younger twin's talk of Atlantis, nor could Heba seem to understand why his older twin, who he thought made more than enough money, wouldn't fund an expedition to finding Atlantis. Yami just plain refused to give in to his brother when he knew the outcome would be more heartbreaking in the long-run; and Yami refused to lose anyone else he loved to the death of a broken dream. Luckily for Yami, Heba knew when not to be overly persistent with his older twin and simply let things go, especially since Yami could be very stubborn.

Yami made his way to the hotel he was staying at, after trading in his giant check for a smaller one for easier delivery, and went to his room to call his twin. Heba had told him that he had finally managed to get the Board of Directors to listen to his proposal, and though a part of him was happy for him and cheered his brother on, he ruthlessly squashed that part of him and prayed that they discarded his proposal and Heba would finally reach his senses; although the last he highly doubted since Heba could be just as stubborn as his twin. They had shared a womb after all. Yami shook his head to dispel _that _thought, a slight look of disgust on his face.

Almost to his room, he checked his pockets for his key card and looked at the time. Pausing at the time, he quickly calculated the time difference form New York City to Domino City. There was a thirteen hour time difference and it was almost nine o'clock a.m. here in New York which meant it was about ten o'clock p.m. there in Japan. He figures Heba would still be awake by then, and they could exchange information about the other's day. Yami relished finally getting to tell his twin that he was coming home. His last visit home had been merely that, a visit. Yami was finally ready to go home and stop with his world travelling, and he hoped to be there for his twin if the Board of Directors had killed his little twin's life-long wish. Yami hoped that his brother was okay, but then he berated himself; of course Heba was okay, his twin was strong enough to live through the pain of a shattered dream. His stomach rebelled as he was suddenly, and forcefully, reminded of a certain best friend and fiancé that he would have said the same thing about three years ago, but then he shook away the bad memories physically and mentally, and focused on the here and now. And here and now his little brother needed him, most likely. So caught up in his thoughts, Yami didn't even notice that his hotel room was unlocked as he pushed it open and stepped inside. But he did notice that he was not the only one in the room.

* * *

For those of you wondering, yes Kanekura was an actual character in the Yugioh series. He was in the original manga and anime, he was the greedy Museum curator that lost to Shadi in a testing of his heart and lost his soul to Amut. I thought that he would be most appropriate for the role.

Also, the Nizu River was a river I made up. Since Domino City is a fictional city I didn't feel comfortable using an actual Japanese river so I made one up by mixing the Japanese mythological Sanzu River with the famous Egyptian Nile River. I wanted it to have that Japanese feel to it while still having a bit of Egypt to it. ^_^

One more thing (Oh my gods, am I the only one who immediately thought of Uncle from Jackie Chan from that? XD ), the tournament that Yami participated in does NOT have Kaiba's hologram projectors and the like. Kaiba has not made the damn things yet, you will see why in later chapters. Don't worry, all will be explained (and if their not please feel free to ask me about them).

**I'd like to thank my three Reviewers. I was having a writers block on a certain part this chapter and your reviews really gave me a boost in my confidence, so I'd like to thank you three.**

**Thank you Kitkat304!**

**Thank you psychicgirl34!**

**Thank you PhantomBrat!**

**I really appreciate the positive output, so once again thank you, you three!**


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I, FallTigerKisa, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Neither it's characters, themes, nor plots (no matter how much I would have loved to make it into a yaoi). Nor do I, FallTigerKisa, own Atlantis The Lost Empire.

Please Note: THIS IS RATED M FOR A REASON! Filled with juicy yaoi and hentai goodness and enough lemons to make a roomful of fangirls sigh in bliss (or at least enough to make me satisfied without destroying the plot). Painings:YxYY, AtemuxHeba, SetoxJou, BxR, MxYM, and slight HxO, DMxDMG, SethxKisara, and MokubaxShizuka.

"**Bold"**is in a different language and I will have the English translation in (Parenthesis). ~_Italicized~_with little squiggly lines are mind-to-mind conversations. And to really mess with you all I might just put them both together in which they are mind-to-mind in a different language. I assume you all do not need an example. I'm also adding _Italicized_ as regular thoughts.

This does not include bashing of any kind, I have a high respect for all Yu-Gi-Oh characters (except Bandit Keith A.K.A Rourke) and I based their Atlantis counterparts off of strange connections I made up in my own twisted mind, so please do not get offended if an otherwise good Yu-Gi-Oh character is given a weird Atlantis counterpart, and vice versa.

Please Review! I take all comments; positive or negative, UNLESS they have to do with the yaoi, homosexual thing, in which I have only to say "DON"T LIKE, DON'T READ!" Can't get any simpler than that.

Also, the perspective will change between characters and I will have their ~~_**Name**_~~ in bold italics between four squiggly lines in the middle of the page. This is in third-person but the perspective will change; the story will follow that person and his/her adventures but still in third-person.

* * *

Domino City, Japan

_**~~Heba Mutou~~**_

Rain pelted Domino City, making an already depressed bronze-skinned young man miserable; especially since he had forgotten his umbrella at home. Heba Mutou sighed as his gravity-defying hair was made heavy from the rain. His day had not been the luckiest of days, but Heba certainly wasn't going to complain; it could have been worse in his opinion. _Although,_ he thought wryly, _I could have done without walking home in the rain._ Heba had a box under his arm containing all of his possessions from work; he had continued through with his resignation at work. So, not only did he now have no job, he had been made a laughing-stock out of the Domino City Board of Directors, one of the most prominent museums in the Asian continent, effectively cutting his chances of getting a new job at the work he loved to do.

Then, to add insult to injury, his license was suspended (yet again) under suspicion that he was underage (it didn't help that he looked like a fourteen year old and he constantly got pulled over by cops, regardless that his driver's license said he was twenty-three), the bus he had to take back from the museum after collecting his belongings broke down en route, when he decided to walk home and it began raining leaving him without an umbrella, he had to stop at a convenience store to pick up some essentials only to learn that he had left his wallet at the museum, and the dinner that he was planning on buying at the convenience store was now unavailable to him so he would go hungry tonight.

All the time wasted from his excursions finally led him home, in the middle of a thunderstorm with rain soaking him to the bone, at ten o'clock at night. Unlocking the door to the Kame Game Shop that he and his twin brother Yami had inherited from their grandfather after his death, Heba set down his box of possessions at the front door. Reaching his hand out towards the clean towel that he had left out to clean the glass casings, he brought it to his hair and rubbed the towel on his hair vigorously. Luckily, a good amount of the moisture build-up in his hair evaporated with the friction causing his hair to regain its gravity-defying spikiness, and Heba sighed in relief as the heaviness on his head was greatly reduced. Still depressed by his failure to gain funding on the expedition of his dreams, his shoulders slumped as he contemplated calling his twin brother, but he refrained from the impulse. Trudging towards the kitchen area behind the shop counter, he didn't need the lights on to know his way around the place; he had grown up in the shop that held his childhood home above him, on the second story.

Heba entered the living area through the kitchen, still in the dark and still rubbing his hair with the towel. Reaching out to the light switch he flicked the light on. Nothing happened. Looking out from the curtain of the towel he turned the light switch on, off, on off; still nothing. _Of course the power's off,_ Heba thought despondently, not even trying to summon a sliver of anger at the injustice of fate. After all, if anger and sorrow could change the threads of fate, then his twin wouldn't have the gaping hole in his soul that he did. For all that Heba was upset and humiliated with this day, he knew that his twin had faced one night that was even worse.

Continuing with the vigorous rubbing of his head, he didn't notice the figure watching him in his grandfather's armchair. Lavender-colored eyes narrowed speculatively at the tanned youth. The female figure, outlined by the flash of lightning, crossed her legs to show off well-defined calves encased in black-leather pumps, her blonde curls making a slight noise from the movement. Heba didn't even look up at the sound, merely made a few 'Tch-ing' noises from his mouth and crooned tiredly, "Hello little Boh-kitty. Sorry Kuriboh, but I couldn't go to the store to get you some tuna; you'll just have to eat the dried food tonight."

Mai Kujaku raised a perfectly-plucked eyebrow in amusement looking towards the small fluff-ball of a brown kitten that sat curled on the couch, completely asleep. Opening a beautifully sculpted mouth she saucily replied, "While I might enjoy being compared to a sex-kitten, I don't quite think that's what you had in mind."

Heba jumped at the sound of the amused voice, low-pitched and unconsciously seductive in its quality. Although, when Heba got a look at the owner of said voice, he didn't think it was unconscious at all. A familiar reddish tint spread under his skin as he gaped at the woman in surprise. A beautiful woman, Mai Kujaku used her natural good looks to her advantage; dressed in a tight leather midriff top to accentuate her already gorgeous attributes it still left enough skin to show off for her own vanity. Perfectly applied makeup adorned her face, and leather finger-less gloves framed her delicate hands. What Heba immediately noticed however, was the 9mm Hi-Power Browning strapped to her upper thigh, noticeable only because she had crossed her legs, and the short leather skirt had ridden up.

Eyeing the gun, Heba couldn't help but be nervous; he knew full well that a pretty package could hold death just as easily as an intimidating one. Still, the unknown woman hadn't hurt him yet, and she would have had the perfect opportunity to kill him, so Heba decided to be cordial. Manners dictated that he at least give her a greeting before questioning her presence in his house. "Hello," he told her politely but warily, still eyeing her gun.

Highly amused, and slightly put off by his notice of her gun and his immediate caution regarding her, she decided to cut him some slack. It normally took much more for men to get intimidated by her, thanks to her gender and build; most men idiotically assumed they could win against her, of which she eventually dissuaded them from. The fact that this one saw her for the predator that she was surprised and pleased her, so as a reward she decided that she wouldn't play her cat-and-mouse game against him; much. It also helped that she thought he was adorable, in a favored pet kind of way; he was in no way her type of man. "Heba Hikari Mutou?" Amusement was still evident in her husky voice, but it was a polite inquiry nonetheless.

Encouraged, since his blood wasn't staining the wall behind him, he felt brave enough to ask questions; after all she was the one trespassing, he was at least guaranteed some answers. "Wh-who are? How did you get in here?" His bravery was somewhat neutralized by the slight stutter in his question.

Definitely amused, Mai decided she could play with him, just a little bit. In a teasing voice she told him, "I came down the chimney. Ho, ho, ho," the last phrase was drawn out to appear almost mocking. And indeed, it was, since Heba's house didn't even have a chimney. Heba was unamused by her teasing him; he had had more than enough of that today. Noticing his reaction, she pouted a little but continued on more seriously, "My name is Mai Valentine Kujaku. I'm acting on behalf of my employer who has a most _intriguing _proposition for you. Are you interested?" she added an unnecessary amount of stress on 'intriguing' making the proposition seem sexual in nature; which had been her intent, just to see how he'd react.

Heba was pretty sure she was just still teasing him so he ignored the false innuendo and asked instead, "Your employer? And just who is your employer?" Still completely unamused, he was a bit more curt than he would have normally been if not for his horrible day.

Anticipating his next reaction, she told him; to which Heba promptly blinked twice and sat down heavily on his couch as his legs folded beneath him.

* * *

New York City, New York. U.S.A

_**~~Yami Mutou~~**_

Yami narrowed his crimson eyes at the unknown visitor currently leaning against the hotel window, staring at him through dark-tinted sunglasses. He was smoking a cigarette as he regarded the younger, shorter man. Yami watched as the blonde man took a long drag on his cigarette before putting it out in the ashtray next to him. The man was taller than Yami, but that wasn't very surprising, and was dressed in jeans and biker leathers with an American-flag patterned bandanna on his head. His face looked like it needed a shave and his mouth was twisted into a smirk as he studied the man in front of him. Yami was unimpressed; there was something about the man that he didn't like and he had learned to trust his instincts.

Yami surreptitiously glanced at the door number, wondering if he had gone to the wrong room, but no, this was his room; which meant he could be as rude as he wanted to the interloper. Never one to beat around the bush with those he didn't particularly like, he returned his gaze to the American and barked authoritatively, "Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my room?"

Keith Howards, unused to people taking that tone of voice with him, sent a glare aimed at the other man that was hidden behind his shades. Pasting an oily smile on his face, Keith answered in a falsely amiable voice, "Who me? I'm Keith Howards, adventurer extraordinaire! My employer is funding an expedition that I'm leading and he recommended you as a veteran in exploring." Keith practically oozed false charm, but Yami only felt as though he _was_ ooze.

Raising a skeptical but curious brow, it wouldn't have been the first time he had to work with someone he disliked, Yami felt he had to tack on, "Recommended me hmm? Funny, you don't seem the type that would be interested in ancient games." Seeing Keith's brow pucker in confusion, Yami continued with an arrogant brow raised, "Your employer of whom _recommended _me," very heavy on the suspicious sarcasm there, "would have mentioned to you that I specialize in Ancient cultures purely for the search for knowledge on ancient games. Correct?" Yami asked rhetorically.

Keith gritted his teeth against the gall of this brat, but he was getting paid a lot of money to bring this guy in; even if he did specialize in a completely useless form of anthropology! Although it galled Keith to play nice with him, he didn't want to risk blowing all his money away for the petty pleasure of smashing the guys' face in; especially since the one willing to pay him the boat-load of money also owned all of his gambling debts. So, wishing he had another smoke, Keith gave Yami a strained smile and said, "Course he did, course he did. It's just that he recommended you specifically for the opening for the survivalist and possible back-up translator."

Suddenly uninterested in the whole expedition now, Yami held the door open for Keith Howards to exit the room and said, "Sorry, not interested. I only take ancient game studies now, not survivalist expeditions. Tell your employer to find someone else."

Keith, already pissed off, almost exploded at Yami's complete disregard towards him; but he reigned in his temper and held up his trump card. In Keith's hand a white envelope engraved with a masculine scrawl, was waved carelessly as he airily stated, "Ah well. That's too bad. I would have thought that your grandfather would have wanted his grandson to continue with his last expedition. He never mentioned that you were such a stickler, Yami."

Yami whipped his head towards the American who was walking purposefully towards the opened door. Quickly slamming it shut, Yami questioned in suspicious excitement, "What do you mean about continuing the 'last expedition of my grandfather'? You knew my Grandpa?" Barely able to believe his ears, Yami waited impatiently as Keith didn't reply immediately, seeming to smirk victoriously.

Keith gloated in his mind as he continued, pasting a falsely engaging smile on his face, "Of course I knew him. He was constantly talking about his two grandsons, Yami and Heba. Although it's been a little over three years, he seemed like a nice enough fellow; had a bit of a temper in regards to some hat he had though; he yelled at anyone that touched the scruffy thing, even though the hat didn't look like it could on his head with all those spikes." Keith knew he had him now. After all, it wasn't a lie; he _had_ met Sugoroku Mutou on an expedition three years ago. "This is a letter from my employer, who also funded the last expedition your grandfather was on, regarding the continuation of that same expedition." Keith finished, trying to hide his smugness.

Yami stared at the missive held in Keith's hand for a moment before holding out a regal hand in imperious demand, setting Keith's temper on edge. But he complied and handed the shorter, but strangely more authoritative man, the white envelope. Keith waited impatiently as Yami cracked the seal on it and quietly read the note. Emotions flitted through Yami's eyes, unnoticeable to any but family, so Keith fumed silently at the completely blank face as he tried to search it for weaknesses.

Without looking up from the message, after Yami had read it for the third time, he asked in a voice, completely devoid of any emotion, "Is this some kind of joke?" Making a negative noise in his throat Keith shook his head, still searching his face for any trace of weakness. "Well then, it's a good thing you gave this to the right grandson." And with that cryptic phrase, Yami promptly crumbled the message into a small ball and threw it away in the trash can. Turning to Keith, Yami coldly glared at the man before him and told him in icily firm voice, "Now get out."

Keith was at a total loss, but, determined not to show it, he walked out the door; never noticing the white-knuckled grip of the other man from his clenched fist on the doorknob. As the door was shut in his face, he decided to make one last-ditch effort and said through the closed door, "If you change your mind, the address for where the expedition will begin is in the letter. You might want to decide by the day after tomorrow." When no answer was forthcoming he stated loudly, as he walked towards the elevator, "Your brother is being given the same opportunity for the expedition too; right now probably. Who did you think you were going to be the back-up translator for?" The elevator door was just closing as he watched the door to Yami's room burst open. A few minutes later, Keith Howard walked out the hotel, smiling victoriously; knowing he had won the round.

He had even made a little profit; when he had brushed past the spiky-haired bastard he had managed to nab a certain check in his pocket, that was guaranteed a total one-hundred grand! Heading towards the bank, Keith had decided that it was definitely worth the attitude he had received from the crimson-eyed freak. _Not to mention,_ he reflected, _if the guy did accept to go on the trip, I can still find some way to give him a beat down, maybe even devise some sort of "accident" to happen to him._ Deciding that life was good, Keith Howards waltzed into a bank to cash his stolen check; wanting his money first before reporting back to his employer.

* * *

Duelist Kingdom Island, Japan.

_**~~Heba Mutou~~**_

When Mai had told Heba that her employer was multi-billionaire Pegasus J. Crawford, creator of Duel Monsters, Heba had thought she was joking. He believed her now as they drove up to his castle; honest to gods _castle_! Sure, Heba had watched Yami win the championship at Duelist Kingdom five years ago, but he had never known that the castle was so _huge_! Confused excitement mixed with unease to give Heba a roiling stomach; forget butterflies, he had frickin' _hummingbirds_ in his stomach as he looked up, and up, at the immense castle. Moonlight shined through the trees of the wooded path, as Mai drove them up to the structure that glowed white in the darkness. Heba knew he was being rude with his gaping mouth and awe-struck eyes searching everything, but he just couldn't seem to help himself.

They parked in front of the castle and got out, Heba just blindly following Mai in his stupor. Nervous at the prospect of meeting one of the most powerful men in all of Japan, a tiny part of Heba's mind was trying to piece together why it was that Pegasus Crawford would ask for him. As he remembered that his twin had defeated this man, he suddenly wondered if he was going to become a piece of leverage or revenge for the wealthy man against his brother. Heba almost turned tail and ran right then, but Mai suddenly pulled him into a, previously unseen, elevator as the door closed.

Mai saw how nervous he was and she also saw some of his misconceptions through his naively expressive eyes, and she ,being the way she was, decided to play with him a little. Pulling on a serious face she began fixing imperfections out of place and straightening his clothes as she recited rapidly, "You will address him as **Crawford-san **(Mister Crawford) or Sir. You will stand unless asked to be seated, and you will keep your sentences short and to the point. Are we clear?" Overwhelmed, Heba could do nothing more than gulp nervously. The elevator door opened and she pushed him out, and as the door was closing she winked at him and seemed to half-jokingly, half-seriously tell him, "And relax. He doesn't bite…often." And with that Heba was alone.

Stepping forward timidly, Heba studied his surroundings. He was in a lavishly decorated library with rows upon rows of… comic books? Neatly stacked, catalogued by author and volume number, the entire left side of the room was covered in bookshelves filled with the out-of-place comic books. Suddenly remembering his twins' description of the billionaire and his eccentricities, Heba decided it wasn't so strange to find them there. To the right was a table with three chairs in front of the see-through glass that made up the whole right side wall; but, upon closer inspection, it became apparent that the glass did not show the outside but was a large, internally lighted fish tank complete with an underwater habitat for… Holy Ra! Were those coelacanths?! The fish that were thought to have been extinct for thousands of years but were recently found in the West Indian Ocean? Heba caught his breath as the living fossils swam peacefully in the large tank; he went back to gazing at the room though when one of the, rather ugly-looking, fish seemed to stare at him. Against the farthest wall towards the right was a Japanese-style folding screen that seemed to block a window, but it was what was next to that, directly in front of him that caught his attention. Above the mantle of the rather small-in-comparison fireplace, a cheery fire illuminated the portrait of a familiar-looking old man with spiky gray hair, purple eyes, and a beaming smile. Heba felt his breath leave him in a rush as he stared up at his grandfather's portrait, but the tears that filled his eyes were caused by the familiar smile that he hadn't seen in years. Heba could barely believe his eyes and he, almost unknowingly, croaked out a confused, "Grandpa?"

"Finest explorer I ever met," came the sincere, but slightly overdramatized, voice to his right. Heba jumped almost two feet in the air and emanated a totally emasculating squeak. Whirling around to face where the voice was coming from he saw that, behind the folding screen, was an easel set-up with a single loveseat behind it. Seated in front of the easel, a familiar man was painting a view from outside the window. Pegasus J. Crawford was a hard man to miss with his straight, silver hair and eye-catching red one-piece suit. _Were those puffed sleeves?_ Heba wondered. He wouldn't have been surprised.

Pegas-uh, Crawford-san was facing Heba but his attention was held with whatever it was he was painting and his hair was left to fall into his face to hide the left side of it, leaving Heba no way of looking at his face but at his shiny, grey-tinged silver hair. Putting down his paints, he turned his head to look at Yugi through his one showing, hazel-brown eye. Behind his carefree exterior, Heba could feel a certain cunning coming from that eye and he realized that Crawford-san was a man that his twin, Yami, King of Games, had almost lost to. After a moment of Crawford-san sizing him up, he put out a hand and said, "Pegasus J. Crawford. A pleasure to meet you, Heba-boy." He quickly shook Heba's hand, not seeming to notice the drying paint on it, so Heba had no choice but to pull out a handkerchief and wipe the blue paint from his hand, before giving it to his host to wipe off as well. Crawford-san took it, laughing to himself at his mistake and wiped his hands off on Heba's handkerchief. "Terribly sorry about that Heba-boy," he apologized, very blasé, and went over to one of the bookshelves and selected a comic book he wished to read, before asking politely, "Would you care to join me in reading of the adventures of _Funny Rabbit_?" Heba shook his head 'no' and Crawford-san put a hand to his head before dramatically exclaiming, "Oh dear. Where are my manners? Cyndia, my wife, is always complaining of my terrible social habits in regard to guests."

Before Heba could get a word in, a soft voice chimed in, "Well darling, if you wouldn't constantly assume everyone likes _Funny Rabbit_ the way we do, then you would not have guests declining reading it all the time and thus making them feel uncomfortable." A gorgeous woman with long blonde hair, startlingly blue eyes, and dressed in a European style blue dress glided into the room holding a wrapped present in her hand. Love glowed from her eyes towards the silver-haired man, and Heba was reminded strongly of a porcelain doll.

Crawford-san immediately crossed the room and held her for a moment before contritely saying, "Quite right, quite right, Cyndia my dear. But, oh, if only we could show the whole world the greatness of _Funny Rabbit_ and his antics; then surely we would have more guests who would not feel as uncomfortable when I asked them the same question."

Cyndia merely shook her golden head and smiled at her husband in tender indulgence, before turning to Heba and saying, "I'm sure you have a lot of questions. Please, feel free to ask," before turning to her husband and softly pleading him, "Please, do not get side-tracked, dear husband. He has every right to have his questions answered."

Crawford-san gazed upon his wife and smiled tenderly at her while saying, "Of course, of course dear wife. For you, I would pluck the moon from her home among the stars, if for nothing more than to see your angelic smile. For you, my love, I would-," she put a finger to his lips to silence him, laughing gently all the while before raising an eyebrow at him and looked to Heba with a softly wry expression on her face. Crawford-san kissed her finger before saying in a more serious voice, "Of course, my heart. If you would be so good as to get our guest some tea, I would be glad to explain everything to him." He pulled her hand away from his face to rest it gently over his heart.

Heba felt a pang of envy at their obvious love for each other; he had always wished for a special someone that he could share in all his passions and dreams with. Sure he had Yami, but Yami was family, his twin, it just wasn't the same. He wanted someone who was genuinely interested in his work, someone who would share in his passions for languages and written forms; not someone whose eyes would glaze over whenever he began talking about Egyptian culture and mythologies. Someone he could talk about philosophy and great discoveries with. Most of all though, he wanted someone who would appreciate and take pride in his work; someone who, when he had had a day as bad as this one, would wrap their arms around him and tell him that he was loved and that everything would look better the next day. Sighing to himself, Heba watched as Cyndia set the wrapped package on a small table and left the room to get them tea.

Crawford-san turned to him and spread his hands while saying, "Well, go ahead, Heba-boy. Ask your questions."

Caught off guard for a moment, Heba's eyes caught on the portrait above the mantel and he asked, "So, you knew my Grandpa?" Excitement for information on his grandfather colored his question.

Crawford-can replied amiably, "Oh yes. I met Sugoroku almost twenty years ago, he was an archeologist that my father had hired for a dig and I had the good fortune to meet him. He was the one who introduced me to Cyndia when we were children; she had been interested in his toys from his toy shop and he decided to invite her to a picnic that my family was hosting and the rest is, as you say, history. Cyndia and I married seven years later when we were sixteen and the two of us have kept in close contact with him ever since. We stayed good friends until the end of his days. He even managed to drag me along on some of his foolish expeditions, which invariably led me to the discovery of an Egyptian shrine to Seshat and Thoth that held depictions of strange creatures that I franchised as Duel Monsters." Heba was shocked at all the information that he had just gleaned, and somewhat hurt that Grandpa had never mentioned any of it. Crawford-san didn't seem to notice his uncomfortable state and continued reflexively, "Very optimistic, your Grandpa. He spoke of you and your brother quite often."

Here Heba felt he had to comment, seeking answers, "Funny, he never mentioned you."

Crawford-san laughed in exuberance, "Oh he wouldn't. He was the type of person who wouldn't take credit for those kinds of things, saying 'it wasn't my accomplishment so I'll get no recognition for it'."

Heba shook his head. That was exactly how his Grandpa would have acted and some of the hurt melted away. But then he remembered why it was he was here; or rather, the fact that he _had_ no idea why he was here. Trying to bring the subject up as politely as he could, Heba confusedly asked, "Crawford-san, is there a reason as to why it is I'm here?"

To which Crawford-san replied, "Oh dear, once again I am remiss in my duties as a host." Sighing sadly, he pointed to the wrapped package that Cyndia had left on a small table, and replied cryptically, "That's for you. Well, you and your brother but sadly he is not here." Going over to it, Heba picked up the small box and was surprised by its weight. The package was wrapped in cheap wrappings, but scrawled neatly on top of the wrapping itself was his grandfathers' handwriting, _To Heba and Yami With Love, Sugoroku Mutou._

Staring at it in confusion Heba stuttered, "It-It's from my Grandpa."

Analyzing the illustrated cover of his comic book, Crawford-san nonchalantly explained, "He gave that package to me three years ago, after his last expedition. He said that if anything were to happen to him, I should give it to one of you when you were both ready. Whatever that means."

Heba tore open the packaging to reveal the glitter of pure gold. A gold box, decorated with hieroglyphics and the lid indented with the Eye of Ra, Heba caught his breath, as he felt light-headed. But he had to know. Opening the lid slowly, he peered inside the box, praying to find what his stunned brain had been searching for his whole life. There, resting inside the golden box, was a familiar-looking book. Tears filled his eyes as Heba gazed upon the Sheppard's Journal. He was so filled with disbelief and awe that he felt the need to say it out loud and make it real, even though he could feel the rough leather that made the binding of the book. "It-It can't be. It's the Sheppard's Journal." Finally feeling the reality that, yes this was real, and, no he wasn't dreaming, he turned to Crawford-san and, in a voice overwhelmed with emotion, told him, "Crawford-san. This journal is the key to finding the lost continent of Atlantis."

At that point, Cyndia walked in with their tea to which Crawford-san sipped a bit out of his cup, before throwing his head back and laughed. _Laughed!_ Anger began simmering in Heba's veins and it only got stronger as Crawford-san scornfully said, "Atlantis!" and continued laughing. Cyndia merely smiled at her husband as he continued laughing and shook his head at Heba before saying, "I wasn't born yesterday Heba-boy."

Tired with the scorn of his favorite subject, but unable to get as angry as he was earlier today, he tried desperately to convince Crawford-san; opening a page and skimming a few sentences, inhaling the old-book smell, and pointed fixedly on some of the pages as proof, "No no no, look at this. Coordinates, clues, it's all right here." Heba stopped himself on one page, reading interestedly at the difficult language; but he wasn't a linguist for nothing and languages, especially ancient and dead languages, were always his biggest passion.

But Crawford-san merely scoffed and said dismissively, "Ah, looks like gibberish to me."

Heba, feeling slightly smug, explained, "That's because it's written in a dialect that no longer exists."

Crawford-san, after taking another sip of tea, said with great certainty, "So it's useless." Heba, so caught up in the book he was reading didn't even notice the sly look passing between Cyndia and her husband.

Slightly irritated but still engrossed in the book, Heba retorted, "Not really. It's just difficult. I've spent my whole life studying dead languages and it's not gibberish to me."

Crawford-san finally decided it was time to send out the real bait, and with that he said dismissively, "Ah, it's probably a fake."

Heba closed the book with a snap and turned to face the couple with unshed tears in his eyes and determined denial in his soul. He was ready to battle with a crusader's passion and with that passion filling his soft voice he claimed, "Crawford-san, my Grandpa would have known if this were a fake; _I _would know. I will stake everything I own, everything I believe in that this is the genuine Sheppard's Journal." Heba tapped the Journal to emphasize his point as he made hand gestures to his heart and the book to illustrate his passionate belief and prayed that Crawford-san would believe him.

Crawford-san subtly waved a hand to the last remaining chair with them in front of the coelacanth aquarium and Heba automatically took a seat. Pretending to seem to concede, Crawford-san held up his hands in placation, and said, "Alright, alright. So what do you want to do with it?"

Heba, not really having thought about the finer details, stuttered a little in his ideas to seem like he had a plan. All he knew was that he _had _to follow this Journal until it finally led him to Atlantis. But first things, first, "Well, I'll-I'll-I'll get funding; the museum-," Heba was rudely cut off by Crawford-sans' derisive laughter.

"Please get over that stupid idea; you tried that once and that failed. They'll never believe you," Crawford-san took his wife's hand in his under the table, praying that Heba would continue with his passion and not get discouraged by the reminder of the Board.

Heba, not even noticing that Crawford-san had mentioned something that he shouldn't have known, continued on a desperate tirade, undaunted, "I'll _show _them! I will _make _them believe!"

Crawford-san shook his head despairingly, but hopeful based on his reactions, and tried to dissuade him from that current thought by saying, "Like you did today."

Heba, enthusiastic cried out, "Yes!" before what Crawford-san had said actually penetrated his brain and he smacked his head despairingly before softly correcting himself, "Well, no." Then, seeming to notice Crawford-sans' knowledge, Heba's face screwed up in momentary confusion before asking, "How-how did you-?" His passion for Atlantis blocked out his momentary confusion and he shook his head before stubbornly exploding, "Look, forget about that! I will find Atlantis, on my own; I mean even if I have to rent a _rowboat_!"

Crawford-san smiled smugly and next to him Cyndia smiled encouragingly to her husband, before Crawford-san stated with the utmost confidence and triumph to Heba, "Congratulations Heba. This is _exactly _what I wanted to hear," flipping a switch on the table in front of him he continued, "But forget the rowboat Heba-boy. You'll travel in style."

Heba watched in confused fascination as small figurines were lifted by a mechanism implanted in the table. Military-grade jeeps, small water vehicles, a giant hot-air balloon, small foldable airplanes, and a… drill? But overshadowing all of those was a giant vehicle in the shape of the Duel Monster Abyssal Kingshark; an evil looking creature, it looked like a giant fish with the frontal exterior seeming to be overlaid with skeletal remains, while its entire head was shaped as a human skull with a spear-like chin and two backward-facing spikes where ears would have been. The figurine was painted in great detail, even including the internally-lit eyes that glared with a yellow light. Upon closer inspection Heba's stunned eyes noticed the engines that were attached to the figurine that were certainly not a part of the card. It wasn't until he looked into the eyes of the Kingshark that he realized it was hollowed out and inside were tiny chairs and console panels. _Is this a supposed to be a submarine?! _Heba was dumbfounded, so he reached out to pick up the hot-air balloon, to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Tanned fingers found little, plastic rotating blades for propulsion and he flicked one, making it spin. Looking up at the beaming Crawford-san, Heba couldn't speak; in fact he didn't even think he could get up from his chair if he tried.

Crawford-san, unsurprised by Heba's dazed expression, went on to proudly explain, "It's all been arranged; the whole ball of wax."

Overwhelmed, Heba could only softly whisper, "Why?" Looking a little lost, Heba was staring at anything and everything; but also nothing at all, in his immense confusion.

Taking pity on the poor young man, Cyndia got up from her chair to wrap an arm around his shoulder for support and comfort. Crawford-san, after sending a thankful glance at his wife, told Heba, "For years your Grandpa bent my ears with stories about that old box and its book; I didn't buy any of it for a minute, of course, although my wife here always did love the stories he had to tell about Atlantis. But a man's patience can only go so far so finally, I got fed up and I made a deal with the old man." Heba perked his ears at this piece of information, his natural curiosity getting the better of him. Crawford-san continued, "I told the man 'Sugoroku, if you ever actually find that so-called box with its so-called journal, not only will I finance the expedition, I'll remove my own eye!'" Brushing a hand through the hair that covered the left side of his face, Heba saw the red leather eye-patch that matched his suit for a split moment before his hair fell back into place. Crawford-san continued on his explanation-slash-rant, "Imagine my embarrassment when he found the darn thing; but still a deal is a deal."

As he walked to the portrait of Sugoroku Mutou above the mantle, his one remaining hazel eye turned sad and serious as Crawford-san regarded the stunned Heba for a second, giving him time to let it all sink in, before he stated seriously, "Now I know that your Grandpa is gone Heba-boy, gods rest his soul, but Pegasus J. Crawford is a man of his word." Turning quickly towards the portrait Crawford-san pointed to the portrait and shouted in a falsely jovial voice, "You hear that Mutou?! I'm going to the afterlife with a _clear conscious_, by thunder!" Slight laughter from his mouth turned sad and dwindled off quickly before he sighed in despair and regret.

Heba stared at Crawford-san and thought that he looked so very lonely, so very sad. Cyndia released him to go stand by her husband and offer him comfort. Taking her hand in his, Crawford-san continued to stare into the flames and quietly told Heba, "Your Grandpa was a great man. You probably don't realize how great." Heba nodded his assent to the first part, as Crawford-san's voice changed to tired and disgusted anger, "Those _buffoons_ at the museum; dragged him down, made a laughingstock out of him." Tears filled Heba's eyes as he recalled the last months leading up to his Grandpa's death; how tired he was, how he barely ever smiled, his eyes lost their sparkle, and he seemed to age to his full sixty-something years in those last few months. Agony lanced Heba's heart as Crawford-san held his wife's hand tighter and continued, "He died a broken man. If I could bring back just one shred of proof, that'd be enough for me." He took a deep breath and paused in remembrance for a few moments; Heba staying silent in his own grief and out of respect for Crawford-sans'.

Crawford-san's shoulders squared a split moment before he turned around suddenly, back to being full of his earlier enthusiasm and asked, "What are we standing around for? We have work to do!" Still retaining Cyndia's hand, Crawford-san walked past Heba towards a stack of files on one of his desks.

Heba's mind was suddenly reminded of the plans that were supposed to be considered for such an expedition and he tried to explain to Crawford-san, "But Crawford-san, in order to do what it is you're proposing we do, you're gonna need a crew."

Cyndia giggled softly as her husband turned to Heba and smugly said, "Taken care of."

Shaking his head is consternation, he stuttered feebly, "You'll need engineers an-and geologists-," he was cut off as Cyndia let out a peal of feminine laughter at his confused expression.

Crawford-san merely spread the files on his desk out and listed off the qualified persons inside, "Got them all; the best of the best. Malik Ishtar; geology and excavation, and he has an appreciation for jewels. Bakura Sakkaku; demolitions, I busted him out of an English prison. Rebecca Hopkins, don't let her age fool you; she's forgotten more things regarding engines and computers than you'll ever know. Plus, the two adopted sons of the previous Communications officer from the last crew, she decided to retire, and a new cook; the last one was recommended to not go this time around, since his food was described as nothing even remotely healthy or tasty. Those are all the newcomers. Then you include the rest as the same crew that brought the Box and Journal back."

Heba hopefully asked him, "Where was it?"

Crawford-san raised an amused eyebrow and brought out a picture showing his Grandpa in a frozen mountain pass with the Box and Journal with several others people; including his blonde escort. Crawford-san simply said, "Iceland."

Heba wanted to crow with glee; go back to the museum and rub his success in the Board of Directors' faces. But he settled on slightly gloating in triumph with an exuberant, "I knew it. I _knew _it!"

Crawford-san let him have his small pause for victory as he put the picture away, before stating, "All we need now is a veteran survivalist, and an expert in gibberish." Heba's stunned amethyst-colored orbs gazed up at Crawford-san in disbelief. _They were going to let me go along as a part of the crew?_ Heba couldn't believe it; he sat down heavily in his chair, just staring blankly at the figurines still on the table. Calling his attention back to him, Crawford-san stated seriously, "So now it's decision-making time. You can build on the foundation that your Grandpa left you, or you can go back to your boiler room.

All Heba's overloaded brain could think of to say was, "This is for real."

Cyndia laughed while Crawford-san teasingly joked, "Now you're catching on."

Heba looked around for his coat, not realizing he still wore it, trying to gather his scattered thoughts. He stood up and began rapidly gathering the files, the Box, and the Journal into his trembling hands, trying not to drop anything in his haste to hurry things along; he began talking aloud to himself, verbally making plans for his befuddled brain to kick-start into gear and focus, "I'll have to quit my job-," but Crawford-san interrupted him.

Crawford-san and Cyndia regarded the excitedly scatterbrained man with matching looks of amusement as Crawford-san reminded Heba, "It's done. You resigned this afternoon."

Heba fell back in his chair, forgetful in his overwhelmed state, as he asked in amazement, "I did?"

It was a rhetorical question but Crawford-san explained anyway, "Oh yes. You hate to leave loose ends; as do I."

Heba remembered the Kame Game Shop with a twinge of protectiveness and started, "Grandpa's game shop, I'm going to have to give out a notice."

Crawford-san smiled in feigned indifference, while his wife said professionally, "Taken care of. Sugoroku was as dear to our hearts as we are to each other and we wouldn't be very good friends to him if we let anything happen to his beloved game shop."

Heba stared at them for a moment, trying to feel some source of anger at their presumptuousness, but all he felt was gratitude; so he continued down his list of worries, "My clothes?"

They both answered simultaneously, "Packed."

One of his biggest concerns, "My _books_?"

Crawford-san said nonchalantly, "In storage, waiting to go with you on your adventure."

Heba could hardly believe his ears, but he listed his final worry, "My cat?" A small brown-furred kitten with bright green eyes mewed loudly in his ear. Heba turned his head and saw his cat perched on the back of his chair, as it walked forward to rub her head against her tan-skinned master. In a soft voice, full of protective love he crooned to her, "My Boh." He pet her as she purred sweetly in his ear and he turned to look at the strange couple in gratitude. Kuriboh left her master and climbed up into Cyndia's lap to fall asleep; they made a very pretty picture like that.

Crawford-san got up from his chair and told Heba in utmost sincerity, "Your Grandpa had a saying, 'Our lives are remembered by the gifts that we leave our children.'" He picked up the Journal and put it into its Golden Box before handing it to Heba and stating quietly, "This Journal is his gift to you and your twin, Heba-boy. Atlantis is waiting. What do you say?"

And with those words Heba was beside himself in exuberant delight, his amethyst eyes sparkling, and he sported a wide glowing grin with a flush of red staining his cheeks at the following rush of excitement. He felt his Grandpa's love in that moment, and he was going to follow through on his dream; just like his Grandpa had always told him to. Heba jumped from his chair with a confident, "I'm your man, Crawford-san! You will _not _regret this!" Heba was so delighted and excited that he began stuttering in his gratitude, "Boy, I am so excited, well I-I-I, I can't even hold it in!"

* * *

New York City, New York. USA

_**~~Keith Howards~~**_

After cashing in his stolen check, he reported to his boss two hours later. Feeling pissed that he had to talk to the egotistical bastard, Keith infused his voice with a large amount of polite friendliness as the phone rang. "_Yes? What is your report Keith?"_ came the overly-honeyed voice of his employer, Pegasus J. Crawford. God, he hated the comic-loving bastard. Keith wished he could kill him and take all his money, but there was no way he could suddenly "inherit" that amount of money. Not unless he got with the guys wife; which wouldn't actually be so bad, she had a nice face and a gorgeous body. Wondering what it was she saw in the faggot, Keith replied in his most charming voice, with disgust crawling all over him, "Everything went smoothly. I believe he'll be joining us on our expedition, Mr. Pegasus."

"_Excellent! That is good news indeed. We officially have our entire crew ready, Mr. Keith! Oh, I cannot wait!" _Pegasus enthused. Disgust roiled through Keith at the overly happy tone and he gritted his teeth as he ended his report. He wished he didn't have to go on this fool's errand, nor this trip to "Atlantis", but if _it_ really was there he was going to be a very rich man indeed. And he would do anything for money.

* * *

**Whew, sixteen frickin' pages! Finally! All done, with this chapter, but man am I on a roll! Thank you to all my reviewers! You make me so glad I'm writing this! **

**Also, I apologize to any who took offense at Keith saying "faggot", I don't like the term myself, but it was the best I could come with; on multiple levels, you'll understand later.**

**I chose the last name Sakkaku for Bakura because the name "Ryou" means "reality" and since Bakura is his evil half, I gave him the last name "Sakkaku" which means "Illusion".**

**I chose Mai's gun to be a 9mm Hi-Power Browning because that is Anita Blake's favorite weapon, and when I think of baddass chicks, I immediately think of Anita; so I just felt like Mai had to have a little piece of Anita since Helga is also pretty baddass.**

**And yes, there is a reason as to why Keith stealing the check is mentioned. But you'll have to find out why next chapter.**

**Next chapter we get to meet half of the gang! Can't wait!**


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I, FallTigerKisa, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Neither it's characters, themes, nor plots (no matter how much I would have loved to make it into a yaoi). Nor do I, FallTigerKisa, own Atlantis The Lost Empire.

Please Note: THIS IS RATED M FOR A REASON! Filled with juicy yaoi and hentai goodness and enough lemons to make a roomful of fangirls sigh in bliss (or at least enough to make me satisfied without destroying the plot). Painings:YxYY, AtemuxHeba, SetoxJou, BxR, MxYM, and slight HxO, DMxDMG, SethxKisara, and MokubaxShizuka.

"**Bold"**is in a different language and I will have the English translation in (Parenthesis). ~_Italicized~_with little squiggly lines are mind-to-mind conversations. And to really mess with you all I might just put them both together in which they are mind-to-mind in a different language. I assume you all do not need an example. I'm also adding _Italicized_ as regular thoughts.

This does not include bashing of any kind, I have a high respect for all Yu-Gi-Oh characters (except Bandit Keith A.K.A Rourke) and I based their Atlantis counterparts off of strange connections I made up in my own twisted mind, so please do not get offended if an otherwise good Yu-Gi-Oh character is given a weird Atlantis counterpart, and vice versa.

Please Review! I take all comments; positive or negative, UNLESS they have to do with the yaoi, homosexual thing, in which I have only to say "DON"T LIKE, DON'T READ!" Can't get any simpler than that.

Also, the perspective will change between characters and I will have their ~~_**Name**_~~ in bold italics between four squiggly lines in the middle of the page. This is in third-person but the perspective will change; the story will follow that person and his/her adventures but still in third-person.

* * *

A hidden marina in New Jersey, U.S.A.

_**~~Yami Mutou~~**_

Yami glared in frustration at anyone that happened to cross his path as he leaned against a Jeep inside an _enormous_ underground warehouse. The crumpled letter in his pocket had told him that this was the address to go to. Yami had contemplated the wisdom of his decision to go with his twin on this idiotic expedition for two days, but Heba was his only remaining family member, his_ twin_, he _had _to go; there was no other option. That didn't mean that Yami had to like the decision. He had been in a perpetual bad mood since that slimy American had left his hotel room; especially when he learned that he had lost the prize money he had planned to donate to help one of his previous opponents. Now he had to go with his little brother on an expedition to a place that didn't even exist; it was a mixed blessing that he had to be there to watch as his naïve twins' dreams were shattered, but at least he would be there to help him pick up the pieces instead of half-way around the world.

Eight hours ago, Yami had driven up to the address of the warehouse to find little activity occurring outside but, knowing that Pegasus Crawford was funding the expedition, he didn't assume he was at the wrong place and simply walked inside, to the protests of the armed guards at the front, and found a barren room. Knowing he was a few hours early he had walked to the large mural of a familiar caricaturized rabbit and studied it for a moment before he, being the King of Games with puzzles being his specialties, reached forward and pressed a camouflaged button for the _Funny Rabbit's _nose and the entire floor began lowering; the whole floor acted as an elevator. The shocked guards who had followed him into the warehouse had hit the floor, confused by the sudden movement of the floor.

Realizing that Yami knew what he was doing, after checking his clearance amongst their visitors list, he had been cleared and they left to go back to their posts; leaving him alone amongst the vehicles and crates of supplies and with his thoughts. Looking up, he blinked in shock. His first thought had been, _Why does Pegasus have an Abyssal Kingshark here? _But then he had realized that it had a metallic sheen that was never seen in natural creatures, and he readjusted his earlier assumption. Moving towards a railing that kept stupid people from falling into the dark blue water on the other side, he got closer to get a better look at the aquatic Duel Monster and he realized that it was a submarine.

Blinking again, in shock at the inventiveness of the creation, Yami had quickly staunched the sudden surge of excitement he felt at the sight of the giant underwater vehicle; the long-suppressed child inside him had tried to escape his bindings, but the adult he had become had brutally squashed him. Yami's eyes had dulled with the effort as he reminded himself that the expedition was going to fail and that it would only hurt more to get his hopes up, that he was only here for Heba; but deep inside, his inner child had questioned him defiantly, _But what if you're wrong?._ He had had no answer but to remind himself of the last time he had dared to dream; his heart shredded at the familiar pain, and he had almost welcomed the sharp sensation. He waited for several hours, consumed in his own thoughts, as people began to pour in to begin loading up the submarine. To stay out of their way, Yami went and leaned against the Jeep closest to the elevator area to watch for Heba.

Fast forwarding several hours to present time, having stayed in the same position for so long to wait for Heba or Pegasus to show up, Yami's muscles had begun to cramp up but he ignored the sensation. Years of having to wait patiently in the same spot for hours at a time on his previous expeditions had trained Yami's subconscious to barely even acknowledge the discomforts of his body; so the people who had been silently watching the crimson-eyed man for the past few hours were unnerved by his stillness. If not for the occasional fanning blink of red eyes and the movement of his chest while breathing, he could have been mistaken for a statue. Yami watched, and waited, for his brother impatiently, though his expression was devoid of all emotions; while inside his heart, he had given up the fight against the headstrong child he was inside and simply ignored him, letting him prance around inside him in excitement. He had loved the tales that their Grandpa had once told him on Atlantis as well, and the child inside was excited at this chance; regardless of the fact that Yami himself didn't want to admit it, nor did he wish for these feelings, knowing they would only lead to another hole in his soul to have his secret childish dream be destroyed.

Yami was startled out of his thoughts when a bell was wrung, indicating that the submarine was going to be launched soon. Yami was distressed; had he missed Heba and Pegasus when they arrived? But no, he had been watching the only entrance; did that mean that Heba wasn't even coming? But that made no sense, Heba would jump at the chance to have an expedition to Atlantis; unless he had finally come to his senses? Yami almost sighed in relief but the child in him snorted in confident denial, stubbornly certain that Heba would never give up on his dream until given cold, hard proof of its nonexistence. Yami had to silently agree with his heart; Heba just wasn't the type to give up that easily, which was a source of great pride and irritation to his older twin.

Yami was just about to turn towards the elevators when a tall man with brown hair set into a single wedge-shaped spike approached him saying, "If you're getting on the sub, you'd best do it now. We're about to drop the Kingshark so we can meet up with the ship." He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb as he hoisted a medical bag onto his shoulder while talking to the exotic-looking stranger.

Yami asked in confusion, "The ship?" Crimson-colored eyes blinked at confident brown eyes in confusion. Yami continued, "What ship?"

The brunet stared at the shorter man in surprise before he said slowly, as one would to a child, "You know, the _ship_? The _Cyndia Rabbit; _the place where we rendezvous with the other half of the crew while the ship takes the sub to the expedition site?" Yami's eyes cleared in understanding and he sighed a breath of relief that he hadn't missed his brother. Thinking back, Yami thought it made a lot of sense since Heba was travelling across the Eastern Hemisphere while they were on the Western Hemisphere; with Atlantis supposedly in the Atlantic Ocean it would make more sense for everyone to meet in the middle.

Certain that the ship was where Heba and Pegasus were at, Yami, without thinking, bowed towards the brown haired man in the familiar Japanese manner of gratitude. "Thank you, I had no idea about a ship and I was waiting for my little brother; that must be where he is." Crimson eyes looked up to see brown eyes opened wide in surprised delight.

The taller man exclaimed in Japanese, "You're Japanese too?" Yami nodded, also pleasantly surprised, as they began walking together towards the submarine. "That's awesome! I thought you were American! You speak the language so well." Yami shrugged in indifference but smiled politely at the other man's praise. Yami had always had a knack for languages and written forms, just like his Grandpa and twin, he just never formed an interest in those types of subjects. "There are supposed to be a few others that are Japanese, but they're on the other boat. We-," here the brunet seemed to catch himself, and a bit of the light dimmed from his eyes as he regarded Yami uncomfortably for a split second before he cautiously said, "My name is Hiroto Honda." He didn't offer his hand, as though he expected Yami to reject him based on his name.

Yami quirked an eyebrow in bemused confusion before reaching a hand out and introduced himself, "Yami Mutou. Is your name supposed to mean something to me; aside from the fact that it means you're Japanese?" Yami was only subtle during his games; he saw no reason to play on words in normal conversation.

Honda, rather surprised that Yami hadn't heard of him and his "brother", was still cautious as he shook his hand slowly and clarified, "I'm the adopted son of the previous Communications officer; I'm the Senior Medical officer for this crew." When Yami still looked at him blankly, he continued with gritted teeth, "Some of the assholes on this crew disagree with the fact that the new Communications officer is my mate."

Yami raised an eyebrow at the carefully worded phrase and guessed, "I assume that your 'mate' is a man, then?" When Honda stared at him in tight-lipped confirmation, as though waiting for his disgust, Yami merely shook his head at him and said, "Relax man. I have no problem with homosexuality. I'm bisexual myself," Yami shrugged in response to Honda's surprised look. Honda studied him for a moment, gauging Yami's honesty, before his shoulders relaxed and a genuine smile spread across his face.

"I have a feeling we're going to get along just fine," Honda was relieved that he had finally found _someone_, aside from their friends, that didn't look at him or his boyfriend in disgust. When Yami smirked at him in a friendly way, Honda grinned as they climbed onto the submarine saying, "You'll have to meet Ryuji then, that's my boyfriend, after we drop our things off in the bunker rooms. Which one is yours?" Yami, having memorized his letter with all the following information, told him and Honda exclaimed, "That's freakin' awesome, you're only a few doors down from my bunk! I can show you the way there."

Going through the submarine, they reached Honda's room first and stepped inside. There were two bunk beds inside with a small bathroom off to the side and a traveling trunk for everyone's necessities. Someone else was already inside, arranging something on the bottom bunk of the bunk bed closest to the door. The man looked up at them and Yami saw that, based on his skin-color, he was from the Middle East; he had a bronze tan with spiky, sandy blonde hair that went down to his collar. He wore a pair of black pants, a sleeveless purple midriff top, and a kings' ransom in gold neckbands, armbands, earrings, and bracelets while his lavender-colored eyes, unusual for those of Middle Eastern descent, were lined attractively with kohl. The man turned and eyed Yami in curiosity before turning to Honda and advised him teasingly, "If you were planning on having an affair, then you better not let Otogi catch you with someone _that _attractive; although watching him become that shade of purplish-red color he can turn into_ would _be very amusing." Lavender eyes twinkled with amusement as he straightened up from the bunk bed, effectively blocking Yami's view of whatever it was he was doing to the bed. He had spoken in Japanese which surprised Yami.

Honda rolled his eyes at the thought and turned to Yami before apologizing, "Sorry that this guy is so annoying Yami, but this is a friend of mine, Malik Ishtar." Honda, seeing that Yami wasn't upset at the 'affair' joke, turned to Malik and said, "This, you mole, is Yami Mutou -," here he paused and turned to Yami sheepishly and asked, "I'm sorry, but I never asked what it was your job on the crew was?"

To which Yami sardonically replied, "Veteran survivalist."

Both Honda and Malik were impressed but Malik couldn't help but turn to Honda and bring a hand up to hide his mouth to whisper loudly, "Doesn't seem to like his own subject, huh? You sure know how to pick 'em," still teasing Honda.

Honda again rolled his eyes while ignoring the smaller man but, before he had a chance to say anything, Yami explained, "It's not that I dislike survivalist expeditions, it's just that I was planning on retiring, but then my brother dragged me along on this one." Yami shook his head in disgust as he sighed heavily.

Both men raised their eyebrows and Malik would have made some sort of sarcastic comment if not for Honda, knowing the annoying man well and seeing his eyes sparkling with impending mischief, nudged him to silence and replied, "Well, you're on it now and regardless of your plans, we're all in this together. So, welcome to the crew." Putting out a hand for Yami to shake, Honda smiled in friendship and camaraderie; to which Yami grinned in return and took the proffered hand.

Malik merely snorted and laughingly replied, "Stop with all the romance before I tell on you to Otogi." Honda merely stared at his friend drolly while Yami fought to keep his lips from twitching in amusement, sure that his newfound friend wouldn't appreciate it.

All three of them were suddenly jarred and stumbled, as the submarine was dropped and hit the surface of the water. They had luckily managed to grab onto something to stable themselves so that they didn't fall over and hurt themselves. Yami had unwittingly grabbed onto the end of the bunk bed that Malik had been messing with when they arrived, and a bit of the blankets moved enough for Yami to notice a flash of brown; but then Malik gave out a shriek and pulled the sheet back into place, effectively hiding the dirt that was underneath. Yami looked on in bewilderment while Honda, who had also noticed what was underneath, groaned in exasperation before saying to Malik, "Not your stupid dirt prank again, Malik!" To which Malik merely grinned triumphantly, still readjusting the comforter so it looked like nothing was underneath. Yami raised a brow in uncertain bemusement; Honda, seeing his confusion, explained, "Malik always does this to new bunkmates, it's stupid really." Honda turned to glare haughtily at Malik.

Malik raised both his eyebrows as he, having completed his setup, turned to stare at his friend and questioned, "Oh? So you weren't planning on playing your old 'fill these' prank on our new bunkmate as well?" Seeing Honda's face begin to turn red in guilty embarrassment, Malik smiled smugly and began snickering, "Talk about the pot calling the kettle black."

Honda scowled at him and muttered a faint, "Shut up." Yami was having a hard time controlling his amusement at these twos' antics. Malik, catching sight of Yami's controlled mirth, grinned at him in friendly amusement; but before he could open his mouth, Honda said, "Now that you two are acquainted, I have to show Yami to his bunk and then take my shower to wash all this sweat off."

Malik grinned saucily at Yami and teasingly remarked, "Got all sweaty with Yami, huh Honda? Naughty, naughty; whatever will Otogi say? Yami, you stud, you." Yami threw his back and laughed at Malik's antics while Honda turned a darker shade of red.

Glaring at Malik in a mixture of anger, embarrassment, and amusement, Honda retorted, "I was busy helping the deckhands load supplies onto the submarine, you fucking jewel **otaku** (someone with a fetish or an obsession for something)! It's very heavy work!"

Malik raised a brow and slyly replied, "Oh I'll just _bet_ it was 'heavy work' if Yami was involved in it." To which Honda grew even redder as Yami laughed even louder.

Yami cut them both off, he felt that if they continued any more than he would die of a lack of oxygen from laughing too hard, as he calmed himself enough to say evenly, "I think I can find my way to my own bunk from here; I wouldn't want to deprive Honda from his shower." Honda turned to him in gratitude but Yami couldn't help himself and continued with a muffled snort of laughter, "After all he does still have to wash off all of the _excesses_ from his 'heavy work'." Honda turned an interesting shade of purplish–red and groaned at them, even as Malik fell backwards on the bunk bed, holding his stomach and kicking his feet in the air while he burst out laughing. The sight of them both caused Yami to resume laughing so he, not wanting to die of asphyxiation or from Honda killing him, stumbled out of their room and weaved his way down the hall, searching for his room number.

Yami passed a few people in the hall, all of them American, and they gave him strange looks; so Yami pasted on his confident mask, while inside he was still laughing his head off. Finally finding his room, he noticed that no one else was inside and he couldn't help but wonder if his brother would be sharing the same room with him; he had missed Heba and there was a lot to talk about, but then he decided it would probably be best if they didn't share a room or else they would keep their bunkmates up with their nonstop talking. He then wondered who his new bunkmates would be and held back a snort of laughter as he wondered if they would be as fun as his two new friends. Knowing it would be several hours before they reached the rendezvous point, Yami slung himself up onto the top of the bunk bed farthest from the door and decided he could take a short nap. Yami closed his eyes and felt his heart pound slightly in excitement and his chest warm with the familiar platonic feeling of love, knowing he would be seeing his brother in a few hours on the ship, the _Cyndia Rabbit_. Just before he fell asleep, something penetrated through Yami's subconscious brain, and Yami was too far gone in slumber to laugh aloud, but he felt a spurt of wicked amusement; he was going to be seeing his brother on a _ship_. Heba didn't travel by sea very well, a seaman's stomach he did not have. Yami's lips curled in an amused smirk as he fell asleep.

* * *

_Cyndia Rabbit,_ Atlantic Ocean.

_**~~Heba Mutou~~**_

Heba groaned in misery as he hung his head over the side of the ship, the _Cyndia Rabbit_. His eyes held unshed tears in them from holding back the bile that tried to climb up his throat. He didn't want to throw up and he was fighting not to with all the strength he could muster. The ship, however, was not helping; every few seconds it would sway with the movement of the waves, just adding to Heba's motion-sickness. The scent of the ocean spray penetrating his nose just increased his nausea. Heba had decided that the sea was an evil creation, made purely to torment him. Another sway of the ship made the taste of bile and something else hit the back of Heba's throat. A few moments later, Heba felt it was safe to open his mouth without throwing up, he groaned rhetorically, "Carrots; why is it always carrots? I didn't even eat any carrots."

The giant ship rocked even harder as the submarine underneath it latched on so that people could begin to board it. Heba figured that he would have to go below deck soon to board as well and say goodbye to his gracious hosts, but he just didn't want to move from this spot. The only way for him to get over his seasickness was for Yami to help him, there was no other way for him to move; and Heba regretted not calling his twin to tell him about the expedition, in fact, in all his excitement, he had completely forgotten about his brother until this morning. When he had tried to call him this morning, he had only gotten Yami's answering machine; which made Heba depressed. After all, each expedition had its own dangers and if he were to die on this one, he wished he had talked to his brother one more time.

Heba was startled out of his thoughts by a masculine voice on the loudspeakers, somehow still charismatic even though the tone was bored, saying, "Attention, all hands to the launch bay." Heba took that as his cue to go inside. Staggering inside the ship, he was surrounded by crates and people in military garb. Looking around in wonder, but still nauseated, he continued walking forward without looking where he was going; the unconsciously sexy voice came back on the speakers and said in snickering mirth, "And to whoever took the 'L' from the 'motor pool' sign," here the voice snorted in amusement and coughed a barely mumbled 'Malik', before droning on in a sarcastically rehearsed tone, "it was a very bad idea and 'haha' we're all very amused." Then he laughed again and said, "But in reality it _was_ pretty funny." Suddenly there was a scuffling sound over the loudspeaker and a few moments later the same voice came back on and retorted defensively, "Well it _was _funny Hiroto! It's not my fault that our-," and was suddenly cut off again. After that it stayed silent.

Heba, having stopped where he was when the humorous announcement was made, looked around for some help; he had no idea where he was supposed to go. A figure from a nearby Jeep hopped down the side and had their back turned to him, so Heba asked, "Excuse me? I need to… uh, report in?" Heba blushed uncomfortably at the admission.

A familiar voice came from the figure as she turned around, "Yes, **Mutou-chan **(Miss Mutou, or used for small children and pets)?" Mai teasingly replied as she watched the tanned man jump in surprise at her appearance there. She wore a black leather trench coat that hugged her form nicely, with a purple turtleneck sweater on underneath and black slacks. She had foregone her pumps for a pair of sensible, although stylish, combat boots; but she still wore her gloves and makeup. Her long, blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail with the edge of it tucked underneath her trench coat for warmth.

Heba was shocked, but unsurprised that he hadn't recognized her, and exclaimed in surprise when he did. "It's you-!"

Before he could continue, he was interrupted by a tall blonde man standing next to a black hummer truck when he shouted angrily at Mai, "Oi, ya' blonde _bitch_! I've got a bone to pick with ya'!" His face was red and his honey-gold eyes glared at Mai in challenge as he folded his hands over his muscular chest.

Mai, unimpressed with the show of force and unsurprised that the man wanted to talk to her, held a finger up to Heba as she winked at him and said, "Hold that thought, cutie." She then strolled towards the taller man and asked in bored exasperation, "What is it this time Jounochi?"

Jounochi, insulted at her presumptuousness but too used to the blonde bitch's antics, glared down at her from his full height as he held out several packages of tofu towards her in disgust and said, "Ya' stuffed ma inventory wit' dese packets of crap! Look at all dis; 'fresh tofu', 'silken tofu', 'firm tofu', 'processed tofu'," he threw each of these packages to the floor in disgust before throwing the whole crate of tofu packages out of his truck in disgusted anger and exclaimed, "What in de hell kind of differences do any' a dem even make anyway?!" Mai seemed unaffected by his tirade while Heba watched on in fascination. A package of soy meat fell out of the crate when Jounochi threw it and he picked it up in confusion, before his face dissolved into horror as he asked Mai in a horrified tone, "What is dis?"

Mai, bored with his tirade, picked it up and said drolly, "It's a package of soy meat, Jounochi. Can't you even read?" She sneered at him.

Jounochi stuttered in outrage and parroted, "Soy meat? SOY MEAT-!"

He was cut off by Mai as she said exasperatedly, "It's a _food_, Jounochi. It's especially good for losing weight and the only source of protein that vegetarians will eat."

At this, Jounochi pointed at her angrily, "Ya mean it's fer _you_, ya fuckin' vegetarian bitch! Dat's not meat an' it's not goin' in ma supplies; in fact, if I even _see _any of dat shit I'll fuckin' burn it for de abomination it is!"

Mai's eyes had narrowed at the blonde man in anger at the commanding tone, but suddenly a horn blared over the loudspeaker. Mai turned to the man and shouted at him, angry at having lost the fight, "All right, _fine, _you stupid mutt! Pack it up and move it out!" She turned and stalked angrily away, having forgotten about Heba in her anger. Jounochi smirked in triumph and, not having noticed the lost-looking Heba, turned to his truck and drove off.

Red lights turned on and off in time to the baring alarm, signaling the time for everyone to begin loading onto the submarine. Heba was left amongst the chaos with a lost expression, not knowing which way to go. The masculine voice came back on, once again sounding bored at the repetition of his lines, saying, "Attention. All hands to the launch bay. Final loading in progress." The voice on the loudspeaker then yawned and sighed in boredom. Heba watched the people dressed in military garb; they all seemed to be going in the same direction, so he followed them. He was suddenly crowded as they all stopped, and he started in surprise when the floor began lowering.

Heba watched as they were lowered into an enormous room with a giant Abyssal Kingshark submarine, the same model as the miniature figurine he had seen in Crawford-san's library. Heba took a few steps towards the submarine, off the elevator, but he was suddenly bumped into from behind. He turned around and came face to face with a dolly cart piled high with crates. A man with long, spiky hair, the color of purest snow, peeked around the corner of one of the crates and glared at him with reddish-brown eyes as he caustically sneered at Heba, "Hey shrimp, if you're looking for the pony-rides, they're back there. Now move out of my way!" He pointed behind him with a thumb over his shoulder and then shoved the dolly cart packed with crates past Heba rudely.

Heba quickly moved out of the way, but watched as something small, cylindrical, and red fell out of one of the crates. Going over, he picked it up and called the white-haired man back, saying timidly, "Excuse me, sir? You dropped your dy-," he looked at the object in his hands in stunned caution and stuttered, "dy-, dynamite." He laughed nervously as the man wheeled back with an annoyed expression on his face. He peeked at the crates on the dolly cart and noticed more of the little red tubes of destruction, and held the stick of dynamite out towards the russet eyed man and asked cautiously, "What else do you have in there?" He tried craning his head to see more in the crates, but he was too short.

The white-haired man took his dynamite back and nonchalantly said, "Oh you know: gunpowder, nitroglycerin, notepads, fuses, wicks, glue… and uh, paperclips; big ones." He held his hands out measuring about two feet, as he continued drily, "You know, just office supplies." Heba's eyes were large at the sarcastic remarks and the man just rolled his eyes at the purple-eyed man and snarled maliciously, "What the hell else do you think is in there?!" Heba jumped at the malicious tone and the russet-eyed man rolled away, pissed off at being diverted, while his spiky white hair seemed to twitch behind him angrily.

Heba stared after him, very intimidated, when a familiar voice called out behind him, "Ah, Heba-boy, where've you been?!" Heba turned around to see Crawford-san and Cyndia walking towards him with an American blonde-haired man in tow. Crawford-san motioned to the man and he introduced him, "Heba-boy I'd like for you to meet Keith Howards; he's the one that led the Iceland team to bring the Golden Box and its Journal back."

Heba studied the blonde man in the jeans, black biker vest, and the American-flag patterned bandanna on his head. Heba didn't like him; his smile was too practiced and very oily. Heba's skin crawled when the man's eyes studied him I return; he felt those eyes on him even though the man, Keith, wore sunglasses. Heba hoped that Crawford-san wouldn't make him shake Keith's hand; he felt that he would surely throw up if the blonde man touched any part of his skin.

Keith was mildly surprised when he saw Heba, he thought he was Yami at first, but then realized his mistake and contemplated how similar they looked, not surprised in the slightest to discover that this was Yami's brother. Noticing the Journal cradled protectively in Heba's arms, he smirked inwardly, while outwardly he pasted a falsely polite smile on his face and said, "Heba Mutou. Glad to finally meet the Grandson of old Sugoroku." Heba's eyes slightly narrowed in suspicious surprise but then he noticed Keith's gaze drop down to the Journal; he unconsciously hugged it closer to his chest, as Keith continued, "See you have that Journal; lots of pretty pictures, but I prefer a good western novel myself." He said dismissively and quite rudely. Heba's opinion of Keith dropped even lower, and he slightly glared at him in offense.

Cyndia, who didn't like the man any more than Heba did, cut in, "Very impressive, isn't it?" Heba immediately turned to her in gratitude and nodded in affirmation.

The four walked a little way towards the loading ramp to the submarine and Heba turned to Crawford-san and told him in awe, "When you settle a bet, you settle a bet." Crawford-san laughed at the praise while Cyndia smiled in delight at the refreshing honesty of the tanned youth.

Crawford-san explained, "Well, your Grandpa always believed that you couldn't put a price tag on the pursuit of knowledge." To which Heba and Cyndia both nodded in enthusiastic agreement, while Keith merely kept his face blank of all emotions when all he wanted to do was scoff at the pathetic comment.

Heba could only say awkwardly, "Well, believe me, this will be a small change compared to the value of what we're going to learn on this trip."

Keith hinted slyly, as he leered at Heba out of the corner of his eye, safely hidden by his shades, with hidden condescension, excitement, greed, and apprehension, "Yes, this should be enriching for all of us."

Heba wondered about his cryptic comment but was interrupted in his thoughts as the masculine voice came back on the speakers, much more animatedly, "Attention, all personnel, launching will commence in fifteen minutes. For those of you that are too idiotic to know what that means, let me dumb it down for you. If you're getting on the submarine, get on it now or we're leaving your ass behind." Another voice could be heard in the background but was unintelligible, and the masculine voice whined, "Stop nagging me Hiroto! I was just trying to-," the transmission suddenly flipped off.

Crawford-san rolled his eyes in amusement while Cyndia giggled aloud, but Keith grit his teeth sneered in disgust, "I wish you would have not had those _fags_ join our crew. They're both nuisances."

Heba's eyes narrowed in offended anger at the man while Cyndia glared at Keith coolly. But Crawford-san smiled at Keith, seeming to take it as a joke, but with a bit less warmth in his tone towards the blonde man, "Now Keith, you know there can be no discrimination in the workforce based off of sexuality. Besides, they both came fully recommended by their adoptive mother, Mrs. Packers the previous Communications Officer; who is anyone to complain so long as they get their jobs done." Crawford-san's voice was conciliatory but firm, as he stared at Keith, daring him to say anything else on the subject.

Keith ground his teeth but pretended to relax and said placatingly to Crawford-san, "Of course, you're right; it isn't my business." With that Keith said to the group, "I must be going now; they will need me for the launching." He left the group and boarded the ramp, no one noticing his hands gripped together in anger.

Heba turned to the Crawford couple and got a surprising hug from Cyndia as she wished him luck. Crawford-san then shook Heba's hand in his own well-wishing, before the horn blew again and he made a shooing motion with his hands towards Heba. Heba ran up the loading ramp and shouted at them, while waving at them behind him, "Goodbye Crawford-san! Goodbye Cyndia!"

Crawford-san yelled back as the main door closed behind Heba, "Make us proud Heba-boy!" Cyndia and Crawford-san stepped backwards together and watched the submarine with twin expressions of excitement and apprehension, while Cyndia wrapped her arms around her husband's right arm. Crawford-san put his free hand on her arm that was entwined with his and sent her a quick glance, filled with pride and love.

Heba followed the main hallway along until he reached the bridge, the huge, yellow-tinted glass of the Kingsharks' eyes and he climbed the catwalks up to see outside. Keith and Mai were at the helm and Keith called to Mai, "Lieutenant, take her down."

Mai raised her voice to be heard to the operators below and commanded, "Diving officers, submerge the ship. Make the dive for one five zero feet." Heba watched in awe as the operators prepared the ship and followed out orders and he felt the sudden weightlessness as the submarine was dropped. The submarine hit the water below and Heba braced himself just in time as everyone was jarred at the impact. Cyndia and Crawford-san had made their way to the front of the submarine and Heba could see them out the 'eyes' of the submarine. He waved at them as Crawford-san held a thumbs-up while Cyndia waved at him. And then Heba lost sight of them as the water enclosed the submarine into its watery depths.

The submarine Kingshark sunk lower and the light slowly dimmed the further they descended. Heba stayed in place for several minutes, just watching through the glass, but he knew that it would take them several hours to reach the coordinates that Heba had translated from the Journal as the opening to Atlantis. Heba got excited all over again at the word, but he knew that he was going to be busy hours from now so he should get as much rest as he possibly could. With that in mind, he headed towards his bunk, reading the map Crawford-san had given him. With his pack slung over one shoulder, the Journal under his arm, and a map shoved in his face, he got lost several times, but he finally found his bunk.

Heba stepped into his bunkroom while hearing the masculine voice come back on the main speaker and say in suppressed mirth, "Attention. Tonight's dinner will be baked beans; musical program to follow." A snort of laughter, quickly silenced in the pursuit of trying to stay quiet, came from the top bunk of the bunk bed closest to the door; although Heba didn't suspect anything, he did notice that someone was up there, but was too tired to really care. Heba could hear someone else in the shower in the adjoining bathroom and he noticed that three of four bunk beds seemed to be occupied since they had bags on top of them; so he slung himself into the final bunk, the bottom one closest to the door.

Suddenly feeling exhausted, he put his pack behind his head for a pillow and closed his eyes; never noticing the head of spiky, sandy-blonde hair peek over the side of the bunk above him and grin mischievously. Lavender eyes widened in recognition and surprise before they cleared, knowing the person below him was not his newfound friend, but the brother he mentioned. Malik smirked at his good fortune and hid his smile of anticipation as he assumed a serious mask to match his tone as he lowly said, "You have disturbed the dirt." Heba shot up in surprise and banged his head against the bottom of the bunk above him. Holding his head at the pain, Heba turned to look at him with unshed tears in his amethyst-colored eyes in surprised pain. Blinking in confusion, he stared at the stranger and replied timidly, "Uh, excuse me?"

Malik made a big production of waving is arms and jumping down from the top bunk, and tried to hold in his laughter at the sight of the panicked young man, as he screeched at Heba, "You have disturbed the dirt!" Heba slid from the bunk bed in a hurry as the bronze-skinned stranger decked out in gold jewelry pulled back the comforter and revealed the small mounds of mashed dirt with tiny flags in them, each seeming to be from a different country. Heba extremely confused, could do nothing more than watch the lavender-eyed man freak out and wail dramatically, "I have toured the globe collecting these pieces of history! Eek! What have you done!? England must never merge with France!" So saying, Malik began frantically separating the mounds into their individual places, covertly watching Heba with lavender eyes shining with hidden laughter.

Naïve, Heba didn't notice the laughter and was honestly upset. He questioned in utter confusion and bewilderment, "What is it doing in my bed!?"

Malik turned to him and implemented the next part of his plan; he got into Heba's space and fired off questions at a rapid pace, trying to keep him off balanced, "You ask to many questions. Who are you? Who sent you? Speak up!" Malik appeared to be getting angrier and angrier but his face was only turning red from him having to suppress all of his laughter at the intimidated and bewildered look on Heba's face.

Heba became unsure and replied timidly, "Who me? Oh, I'm uh-," He was cut off as Malik pretended to spit in disgust at his slow reply.

Malik grabbed Heba's hand and improvised on the new twist of his prank, and said in hurried disgust, "I will know soon enough."

Heba, angered at the new development of his hand being held prisoner, tried to pull his hand back and exclaimed in angry alarm, "Hey, hey, hey! Let go!"

Malik held the hand in his grip firmly and grabbed some tweezers from his pocket as he replied, "Oh, don't be such a crybaby! Hold still!" He missed on the first try, but he snagged the piece of skin under Heba's fingernail and exclaimed in triumph at the piece of skin in his tweezers, "Aha! There you are! Now tell me your story, my little friend!" Grabbing his miniature magnifying glass, he pretended to study the piece of skin, laughing in his mind when Heba leaned towards him in gullible curiosity, while he listed off at a rapid pace, "Parchment paper from a government building, lead ink used to sign it, traces of leather bindings from a book, you came from the Eastern Hemisphere, and you are the youngest sibling from a pair of brothers." He concluded to the stunned and overwhelmed short man, hiding his amusement and said, "But this doesn't tell me who you are."

Heba could only blink in bewilderment and replied unsteadily, "Heba Mutou. Cartographer and Linguist." He replied, falling back on his old title.

To this, Malik's amusement faded as his face turned red in real fury. He had seem some of the hieroglyphics from the scans of the Egyptian shrine that described the location of Atlantis and he could read a great deal of it; and he was morally offended that they needed a Japanese translator to translate Egyptian texts when he, as an Egyptian native, could translate it. When he had told his superiors that he could translate them he was told that they already had a linguist; but he was greatly offended that they preferred someone of Japanese descent over an Egyptian native to translate Egyptian documents. He glared at Heba angrily and hissed, "Linguist." Heba looked at him in surprise and Malik grabbed Heba's belongings and dropped them in his arms as he pushed him towards the exit, and screamed, "This is an outrage! You must leave at once! Out, out, out, out, out!"

Honda, having stepped out of the shower and watched some of Malik's antics, had snuck behind them near the exit until Heba was pushed into his bare chest. Although he had originally been surprised by the new-comers' resemblance to Yami, he had figured out relatively quickly that their new bunkmate wasn't him and, therefore, must be the brother that Yami had been talking about. He wore nothing more than his jeans and a towel draped across his shoulders and he, thinking that Malik was still playing his infamous 'dirt prank', decided to play along to integrate his own joke. Honda looked at the overwhelmed Heba and said gravely, "Uh-oh. Sat in the dirt didn't you?" He then leveled a, barely noticeably teasing, glare at his sandy haired friend and said in false sternness, "Malik? Now what have I told you about playing nice with the other kids?" Heba was stuck in the middle watching the two, and when Malik went to seriously tell his friend off, Honda suddenly intervened by pulling out a bottle of makeup remover and said, dramatically, "Get back! I have makeup remover for your kohl and I'm not afraid to use it!" Malik recoiled and hissed at his friend in instinctual horror, shielding his face as he turned away to climb up to his bunk while Honda smacked his ass with his wound-up towel and called, "Back, foul creature! Back to the pit from whence you came!" Malik, having finally climbed up to his bunk as one of his bags made a faintly metallic 'chink-ing' sound, crawled under the blanket to hide with only his lavender-colored eyes seeming to glow out of the depths of the dark cover. Honda turned to the disheveled Heba and held out a hand and introduced himself in fast-paced friendliness, "The name's Honda. Hiroto Honda. I'm the Senior Medical Officer."

Heba, remembering his manners but still a little overwhelmed, replied confusedly, "Heba Mutou."

Glad he had gotten his guess proved right, Honda pondered over why it was something about his name seemed familiar, even before he had met Yami. He wondered aloud, "Heba Mutou." Something suddenly clicked in is mind, a memory of a chance meeting with a gray-haired man with amethyst-colored eyes while going to pick up his adoptive mother from an expedition to Iceland three years ago. Smiled broadly at the remembrance, Honda went to go pick up his medical bag and rifled through it as he decided to keep up with his joke and remarked, "You're my three o'clock!" He pulled out his brand new bone saw, a nasty-looking thing to a civilian but a thing of beauty to any surgeon, and watched Heba's face blanch in panic as Honda said, "No time like the present."

Heba gulped and stared, transfixed at the wicked-looking saw, and said quietly to himself, "Uh-oh."

Honda grinned in amusement as he rested the non-edge side of the blade against his shoulder, and said with pride, "Nice isn't it? The catalogue said that this little beauty can saw through a femur in twenty-eight seconds." He then flicked the blade and made it give off a quick 'twring' sound as he continued arrogantly, "I'm betting that I can cut that time in half." He then put the saw back his medical bag and pulled out a popsicle stick and said, "Now, stick out your tongue and say 'ah'."

Heba, trying to shake off his feelings of being overwhelmed, tried to reply, "Oh, no. I really don't-," he was cut off as Honda stuck the popsicle stick into his mouth and pushed down his tongue with it.

Honda, still having fun keeping Heba unbalanced, continued with the rest of his rapid-fire quips, "So where you from?"

Not being able to answer intelligibly with his tongue being pushed down, Heba tried to answer regardless, "Lahimo khidy."

Honda, amused with his prey, pulled the popsicle stick out of his mouth and roughly shoved in a thermometer and continued quickly, "Really? I have family there." He drew out a stethoscope and listened to his heart as he decided to throw Heba more off balance by listing off random things rapidly, "Beautiful country up there. You do any fishing?" Heba, holding a thermometer in his mouth, shrugged his shoulders and made somewhat positive replies through strange sounds in his throat, while Honda continued, "Me? I hate fishing. I hate fish. Hate the taste, hate the smell, hate all them little bones." Honda pulled out two very large beakers and held them up as he moved in for his finale, as he told Heba without causing a pause in conversation, "Here. I'm going to need you to fill these up."

Honda almost burst out laughing as Heba spit the thermometer out of his mouth with such force he broke it and exclaimed, in bewildered panic, "With WHAT!"

The charismatic voice suddenly came back on a private speaker system in their bunk and said, "Will Heba Mutou please report to the bridge? Hiroto or Malik, maybe both of you, stop terrorizing the poor guy. At least wait until I'm there to join in the fun." The voice whined.

Malik laughed from his bunk while Honda groaned aloud and went over to push a button on the wall and shouted, "Aw, Ryuji! I had just finished my joke on him and you had to ruin his reaction. Damn you, **koi **(love)!" Heba startled at the term of affection before he realized that Honda must be the lover of the Communications Officer that Keith had been complaining of.

Honda's lover, Ryuji, whined defensively, "It's not my fault, **Senshi meito **(warrior mate). The American homophobe wanted Heba Mutou down at the bridge; I have my orders, dammit!" Heba listened in curiosity as Malik snickered at the couples' bickering in amusement. Ryuji must have heard him, because he suddenly shouted, "Shut up Malik! As if you haven't already tried your dirt prank, you asshole! At least Honda has more class than your 'intimidate-'em and laugh-at-'em' scheme!" Honda looked a little sheepish at his boyfriends' faith in him when he had done pretty much the same thing.

Malik raised an eyebrow at the challenge and said challengingly, "He has more class does he? Even though that the two of you fucked in the speaker room? Oh yeah, very classy." He rolled his eyes derisively.

Honda and Heba both blushed, both for different reasons, as Ryuji stuttered, "H-how did y-you-?"

Malik raised an eyebrow in amusement as he regarded his friend and replied, "You took a shower from the crate-lifting five hours ago. You were up in Otogi's office an hour ago and you came back and suddenly took another shower. Hmm, I wonder why," Malik answered sarcastically, sitting up on his top bunk and stared down at Honda drolly with just a hint of mischief in his lavender-colored eyes. Honda blushed a bright red, Otogi spluttered incoherently into the speaker and Malik smirked in victory.

Meanwhile, Heba's bronze-skin developed a very interesting reddish tint and he decided that this was too private a conversation for him to be privy to. So, gathering his supplies, he made his way to the door, unnoticed, since Otogi had finally snapped out of his stupor and was busy teaming up with Honda to verbally beat their spiky-haired blonde friend. Heba sighed in relief as he made his way out of ear-shot from the three strange people, but he had to admit he was somewhat amused by them; just so long as their pranks weren't directed at him. Heba then looked around in confusion, _Which way was the bridge again?_

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**Another sixteen pages! Damn, my fingers are cramping! I actually wrote the first half of this while in the waiting room of the hospital at 2/6/13 that night, while my mom was giving birth to my new little sister (no joke)!**

**Again, I wish to thank my reviewers! Thank you all, Kitkat304, psychicgirl32, PhantomBrat, and my newest reviewer InuYoiushi! Please keep up the reviews and support. I take all reviews and suggestions.**

**I wanted to bring up the possibility of having MPreg in this story later on but I have to have people vote for it. I'd really like to but I'd like to hear other people's opinions on the possibility.**

**I think, from now on, I'm going to have the dialogue's from now on assumed to be in Japanese unless I have the characters talking to Keith, and then I'll have it all in bold that symbolizes he's talking in English.**


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I, FallTigerKisa, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Neither it's characters, themes, nor plots (no matter how much I would have loved to make it into a yaoi). Nor do I, FallTigerKisa, own Atlantis The Lost Empire.

Please Note: THIS IS RATED M FOR A REASON! Filled with juicy yaoi and hentai goodness and enough lemons to make a roomful of fangirls sigh in bliss (or at least enough to make me satisfied without destroying the plot). Painings:YxYY, AtemuxHeba, SetoxJou, BxR, MxYM, and slight HxO, DMxDMG, SethxKisara, and MokubaxShizuka.

I have since decided that all dialogue will be in Japanese but automatically translated in English, but when the conversations are in English the words will be in English in all "**Bold**", with none of the translated word in parenthesis of course. However, a word written in "**Bold"**with the English translation in (Parenthesis) is in a different language. ~_Italicized~_with little squiggly lines are mind-to-mind conversations. And to really mess with you all I might just put them both together in which they are mind-to-mind in a different language. I assume you all do not need an example. I'm also adding _Italicized_ as regular thoughts.

This does not include bashing of any kind, I have a high respect for all Yu-Gi-Oh characters (except Bandit Keith A.K.A Rourke) and I based their Atlantis counterparts off of strange connections I made up in my own twisted mind, so please do not get offended if an otherwise good Yu-Gi-Oh character is given a weird Atlantis counterpart, and vice versa.

Also, the perspective will change between characters and I will have their ~~_**Name**_~~ in bold italics between four squiggly lines in the middle of the page. This is in third-person but the perspective will change; the story will follow that person and his/her adventures but still in third-person.

WARNING: This chapter has _very _offensive language (that's what you get when you have Yami Bakura, I'll just call him Bakura, in a chapter).

Please Review! I take all comments; positive or negative, UNLESS they have to do with the yaoi, homosexual thing, in which I have only to say "DON"T LIKE, DON'T READ!" Can't get any simpler than that.

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Abyssal Kingshark Submarine, Several hundred feet below the Atlantic Ocean.

_**~~Yami Mutou~~**_

Yami woke up with the beginnings of a serious headache to the sounds of a heated three-way argument. He blinked blearily as he sat up on the top of his bunk-bed; crimson-colored eyes scanned his surroundings with a hint of anger in them at being so rudely interrupted from his nap. He squeezed his eyes shut in pain as his eardrums were assaulted by a feminine screech of outrage, "How DARE you speak to me like that! I don't care HOW old you are or WHAT your damn gender is! You do NOT speak to a lady like that!" Yami had to grit his teeth as he glared over the top of his bunk at the three people arguing. His beginnings of a headache had just grown from a possibility into a certainty at the girlish shriek.

One of them, the girl who had spoken since she was the only girl in the room, had her hands on her overall-covered hips as she glared at another person, her aquamarine-colored eyes flaring sparks of temper through her glasses. Her waist-length white blonde hair was ordinary and flowed freely except for the one ponytail of sectioned hair she had tied to the right side of her head. She wore a vibrant pink shirt underneath her denim overalls and sensible, black combat-boots barely peeking out from the bottoms of her rolled-up denim overalls. What struck Yami the most was how young she looked, she couldn't have been more than thirteen and she was even shorter than his brother Heba! Yet there she stood, toe-to-toe with a white-haired man who positively radiated malice. His russet eyes glared at her in fury and he seemed unwilling to back down from whatever it was that they were arguing about.

But it was the last one, the young man who stood next to the young girl appearing to be on her side in the dispute, that caught most of Yami's attention. The tall, muscular man with messy, blonde hair had his arms hanging loosely by his sides, fists clenched tight and waiting to come to blows to protect the girl if the white-haired man tried to physically hurt her as he glared at him through confident honey-amber eyes. Yami immediately recognized his former opponent, the one he had battled during his last tournament during the semi-finals only a few days ago; the one whose card he had saved from Haga and then beaten in the semi-finals. The same one who had impressed Yami so much with his integrity and honor that Yami had planned on donating his one-hundred thousand dollars cash prize to the man's younger sibling to pay for his or her medical operation; if not for the fact that he had somehow lost the check on his way to his hotel-room. If Yami's memory served him correctly, the man's name was Katsuya Jounochi; but he had told everyone that he encountered to call him Jou. Yami's eyes opened wide at the surprising sight, but before he could say anything, Jou yelled at the man in his familiar, accented Japanese, "Ya don't have ta yell at her! She's just a little girl fer cryin' out loud! Quit bein' an asshole an' just let her have the damn upper bunk, ya' ornery bastard!" Jou stood glaring daggers at the white-haired man.

The man, regardless of being outnumbered and outmatched, stood his ground and matched them both glare for glare. His lips curled into sneer of anger as he shouted at them, "I couldn't give two _shits_ about whether or not she's a girl, or if she's young; I got here first and I called the damn bed! Just because she has a pussy and chesticles, and that she's barely big enough to have been upgraded from pedophilia to fucking porn, does _not _mean that I have to cater to the demands of this little _carpet-muncher_! So, you little pigmy-shrimp, you can take your 'lady-like sensibilities' and shove them right up your snatch!" Stunned, Yami raised both eyebrows at the crudeness of this man, but before he could even think to say something, the white-haired man had swiveled his head to glare at Jou and continue his tirade, "And you, you overprotective dipshit jerk-off; if she has the balls to stand up to me, she doesn't need you to hold her fucking hand and defend her and shit! If she wants to try to beat my ass she can damn well try; but I can kick her ass faster than a fat bitch falling on her ass who sat down too fast, and then crawl up into my damn bed and go the fuck to sleep!"

So saying, the pissed off, white-haired young man turned without a backwards glance to the other bunk bed, about to hoist himself up to the top bunk; except Jou, his face mottled red in fury, grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back down to try to beat the crap out of him. But just as he was about to punch the shit out of his friend, Yami intervened with a loud, "KNOCK IT OFF!" he bellowed in his most authorative voice; the one Heba often referred to as his 'Pharaoh voice', since he had been known to silence entire streets with his commanding tone and voice-carrying pitch. Heba had often joked that if Yami had been born millennia ago he would have made an impressive king; now though, he was only relegated to the inconsequential title of King of Games. Three sets of eyes jerked to him on his bunk, all three of them surprised that their sleeping, previously unseen, bunkmate was awake and glaring at them in impatience. Immediate silence swept through the room, unbidden, especially from the russet-eyed man, as Yami's voice penetrated the sudden silence in a scolding tone, "I don't know _what _it is that possessed you three to yell so loudly that our neighboring rooms could probably hear you from three stories down, and I really don't care. You, young lady, should know better than to shriek at some stranger and expect to get your way whereas if you had just asked nicely he might have given it to you." The blond girl blushed to the roots of her hair at the scolding and looked down in embarrassment, knowing he was right; a proper lady _didn't _act like she had, and her grandfather would be ashamed of her.

Yami then turned his glare to the white-haired man and said acidly, "And _you._ Don't think that just because she was so impolite that that garners the amount of disrespect that you just piled unto her. She may be young but that doesn't mean that you have to act more like a child and curse her out just because _you_ were being a jackass. And really, did you _have _to insult her in such a crude manner that it would leave my Grandpa itching to coat your entire mouth with soap if he were to hear you?" Russet-eyes flared in renewed temper at the tri-color-haired man but before he could say anything, Yami continued with a short but commanding question, "And really, would it have _killed _you to give up your bunk for her?"

Yami's eyes were glaring head-on into russet-colored eyes, refusing to back down until one of them surrendered. Jou was highly enjoying watching his long-time friend be put in his place; but then russet-colored eyes flared even higher in temper as he spat out, "_Yes_, Your Fucking _Highness,_ it would have killed me to let this two-faced bitch take what was rightfully mine. Would I have given it up had she asked me? Probably not; but I would certainly never give it up to her now. She's already proved herself to be growing-up to be just like every other two-faced person in this world. Well I refuse to cater to the politics and the bullshit of other people, so all three of you can kiss my ass! Now, will that be _all, Your Worshipfulness_?" Yami merely narrowed his eyes at the derisive tone but nodded his head regally. The white-haired man gave a middle-fingered salute and climbed up unto his bunk with a huff.

Yami climbed off his bunk and turned to face the other two and raised a brow at them. Jou merely grinned unrepentantly, his expression telling them _I'd do it again and still feel no remorse._ Somehow Yami wasn't surprised. He looked to the girl and folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow at her, waiting. She looked down in embarrassed shame and mumbled a barely heard, "Sorry, mister, for trying to take your bunk. And I'm sorry to you too, for waking you up with my yelling." She continued to look down in her humiliation and was surprised when Yami reached over to pat her head in recognition of her apology. She looked up and Yami nodded to her in forgiveness and her bluish-grey-green eyes timidly smiled up at him. Yami then noticed, as her blush went down, that she had a slight smattering of freckles that dusted the upper part of her cheeks. The white-haired man huffed a noise in the back of his throat that could have been taken for a sound of forgiveness; Yami didn't think they would be getting much more out of the prick.

Jou smiled at his former opponent, the King of Games, and said, "It's good ta see you though Mutou-san, I neva would' a believed dat I would get ta meet da King' a Games; not just once, but twice!"

Yami rolled his eyes at the uncommon deference that he was paid wherever he went, just based off of his title, he replied, "Yami, please. Mutou-san always reminds me of my Grandpa and I'm not that old." Jou and Yami both grinned at each other as Jou nodded in understanding.

The unseen figure in the upper bunk snorted and quipped sarcastically, "Oh look, he really _is _a king. How fucking precious is this." Jou and Yami both looked at the bunk drolly before Yami rolled his eyes at the caustic reply.

Jou grinned at him as Yami turned to him and they slapped their arms together in easy camaraderie. Yami smirked at the tall blonde as Jou commented, "Geez Yami! I had no idea you was showin' up on dis expedition, man! If I had known dat den I would' a warned everyone dat was comin' along. You can meet all ma friends dat are on da boat too, somedin' tells me you'll get along fine wit' dem all." A low grumble of annoyance could be heard from the top bunk and Jou flicked his gaze there before he settled his honey-brown eyes on Yami with a sheepish expression, as he amended, "Well, almost everybody. Sorry 'bout Bakura, Yami, but he's alright once ya get ta know him." He shook his blonde head sheepishly as he looked at Yami with a, _what can you do?, _expression.

Yami shook his head at his one-time opponent, a small amused smirk gracing his mouth. There was just something about the care-free blonde that you couldn't help but to like. Even though Yami had only met him twice, and one of them during a dueling match at that, he still couldn't help but to think of the taller man as a friend; they just got along too well. Yami asked him the foremost questions in his mind, "What are you doing here Jou? And how do you know this prick?" A pissed off hiss could be heard from the upper bunk but they both ignored Bakura.

Jou grinned triumphantly as he explained, "I got dis gig as a job from a couple' a friends' a mine; we go way back an' deir mom had been a part' a de ol' crew but was retired, so she recommended dem for dis crew. I needed some money an' dey hooked me up; I'm da new cook o' da expedition!" He pronounced proudly. Yami smiled at him, relieved that he'd have a familiar face on the expedition aside from his brother. He had a good idea on who his two friends were, but before he could voice his suspicions, Jou continued, "As fer Bakura here, we've known each otha' fer a _long _time. We was a part' a da same gang when we was growin' up, but we still kept in touch even when da gang split up and he went ta jail." Yami was startled at the matter-of-fact tone that the blonde used for his revelation of delinquency; not that he was surprised to learn that Bakura and Jou were once part of a gang, but that Jou was so cavalier about dispensing the knowledge of it.

Bakura immediately sat up in his bunk and glared down at his friend in displeasure as he hissed, "Oh sure Jou, why don't you just fucking tell _everyone_ that I'm fresh from fucking prison. Have a fucking field-day with the knowledge, why don't-cha?!" He then lay back down with a muttered, "Dumbass fucktard."

Jou just rolled his eyes as he looked up at his friend and asked, "Well, what da hell are ya doin' as a part' a da crew, Bakura? I assume it's got somedin ta do wit' blowin' shit up?" Yami and the blonde girl felt a faint disquiet at the thought of the malicious white-haired man anywhere near explosives, especially when he confirmed the fact by answering back with a maniacal snicker.

The blonde girl, a little creeped out at the sound, instinctively moved a little closer to Jou as she shivered. Yami, noticing the movement, glanced at the blonde girl before he turned to face Jou and raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "Hey Jou, is this the sibling of yours that I had heard about? Looks like you got her that medical treatment after all if she's this spritely." Yami felt a little better knowing that his lost check hadn't affected the man and his sister's chances of getting that operation she needed.

Both blondes turned to look at each other in surprise before Jou turned his head back and said to Yami, "What? Hell no, she's not ma little sista! Ma little sista, Shizuka, is in a hospital in New Jersey. I've neva met dis girl in ma life!" Yami's eyebrows crinkled in confusion; Yami had thought that Jou had acted way too protective of the girl to be some stranger he had just met that day. Jou seemed to see his confusion and explained, "I'm an olda brotha, I've always had ta watch out fer ma little sista; dat just seemed ta carry ova into ma personal life, I always feel the need ta protect younger people, girls 'specially." He shrugged at Yami's look of curiosity.

The pre-teen girl was still stuck on the previous introductions though, and was patiently waiting for her turn to get her say in, as she stared at the tri-color-haired man with an expression of surprised awe. Yami had seen those types of reactions before; but awe and near-hero-worship made him very uncomfortable compared to the much-more jokingly praiseful tone that Jou used about his earlier title; maybe that was one of the reasons they got along so well? Aquamarine-colored eyes sparkled in delight as she gushed, "_You're _Yami Mutou, the King of Games? I've read multiple articles about you; how could I not since I'm an avid Duel Monsters fan, and I absolutely _loved _the articles describing your victory against Pegasus Crawford!" Yami hid his embarrassment at her gushing praise behind his professional mask as she introduced herself, "I am Rebecca Hopkins, I hold the reigning title of Intercontinental Champ of Duel Monsters, or at least I did; I wish I had been there for the tournament that you were playing at in New York a few days ago so I could play against you, but I was getting ready for this expedition so I had to skip it. If I had known that you were going to be participating in it then I would have gone, but I just didn't see the point." Jou looked surprised at the revelations that Rebecca had stated, and though Yami was surprised too he was able to hide his reaction better.

He held up a hand to forestall any more of her youthful excitement-prone chatter, and held his hand out in greeting, as he told her, "I am indeed very sorry to have lost an opponent at the tournament then, Hopkins-chan. It's a pleasure to meet you now though, and perhaps we can have a match while on this trip." Yami smiled in friendly patience as Rebecca grabbed his hand in excitement and vigorously shook his hand.

She then corrected him, "Please, just call me Rebecca, or even Becky, I've been living in America too long to take offense at the informalities; I actually kind of prefer them. Is it alright with you if I call you Yami-san?" Yami shook his head no that it didn't bother him; he too had been to numerous different countries that had much less formal cultures and he had also gotten used to their greetings. She then turned to Jou and smiled up (and up) at him as she told him, "You can as well Jounochi-san. Thanks for standing up to your friend for me, even if I was being a bit of a brat." Her face dissolved a bit in remembered embarrassment but she was honest in her thanks.

Jou merely grinned at her and ruffled her hair, much to her chagrin, and said, "No problem, Rebecca. And please, just call me Jou." Rebecca smiled up at her blonde savior and kind of wished that he really _was _her big brother, but then he sort of ruined the feeling as he questioned, "How ol' are ya', anyway? Ya' look even younger den ma sista' an' she's fifteen."

Hitting a sore spot, Rebecca hated whenever anyone questioned her about her competency in regard to age, she narrowed her eyes and said, "I'm twelve but I can assure you, I know what I'm doing." Her tone had gone just a little icy.

Jou had only been asking out of concern for her safety, the same way he would have with any other girl (with the exception of the blonde bitch Mai Kujaku), and was so bewildered by her sudden reversal that he didn't know how to respond. Yami took pity on his friend and decided to smooth her ruffled feathers, he had more experience in the matter since he had recognized the symptoms of her attitude; Heba used to have a similar problem when he was a teenager and was constantly being confused with a grade-schooler and was never taken seriously. Yami soothed, "We weren't implying that we thought you were incompetent at your job Rebecca, we don't even know what your job is. Jou was only worried since this expedition can likely turn very dangerous and he is the type to be worried about any female, regardless of age."

Rebecca glanced up at the tall blonde, scrutinizing his expression, and relaxed as she realized that Yami was right. Realizing that she had overreacted a little bit, she said sheepishly, "I apologize. I didn't mean to snap at you; it's just most people here have been looking at me like I shouldn't be here and that I should go home 'cuz I'm too young. It just kind of rubs me the wrong way." She scratched the back of her head as she glanced at the two men before her and Jou relaxed as he smiled at her in understanding and Yami nodded towards her regally. She cleared her throat and smiled as she said, "I'm the Chief Mechanic, Engineer, and Computer Specialist; if it has anything to do with technology I can make it, fix it, and tamper with it." She explained with pride in her voice. Jou looked impressed, he thought it sounded much more important than his cooking experience; but he enjoyed cooking too much to complain. Yami merely shrugged in acceptance; he figured that if Pegasus had hired her for a job than she was the best possible choice for it, regardless of age. Even Bakura raised an impressed brow; unseen, of course. Seeing that her news was accepted and not given the slightest amount of indulgent condescension, she continued proudly, "I just graduated from college with my two degrees majoring in Computer Science and Engineering."

Jou gaped at her, stunned; he had never even finished high school, as he questioned her, "An' _how ol' _did ya' say ya' were?" Yami had both eyebrows raised in surprise and Bakura had almost sat back up to look at her in incredulousness, but he refrained from the impulse and decided that he didn't care; whoop-de-fuckin'-doo for the shrimp-bitch.

Rebecca, knowing that Jou didn't mean it as an insult, smiled at the two other duelists and restated smugly, "Twelve. I'm turning thirteen in four months." That's what Jou thought she had said; but he still couldn't seem to wrap his brain around the concept. Sure, he had heard of child geniuses and protégées before, but he had never actually met one before and had always associated them with the upper-class citizens of the world; of whom he had never been a part of, and he was slightly put off by the pre-teen. But then his natural curiosity fired up and he began asking her questions, and eventually Yami was dragged into the lengthy conversation.

A good ten minutes passed of the three just chatting before an annoyed voice above them caustically called down to them, "Get lost, you three; take your shitfaced conversation _out _of the goddamn room! If you three fuckers don't _mind _but _someone here _is trying to sleep!"

Before any of them could reply though, the speaker in their room suddenly went off and a familiarly sensual voice came on saying, "Please report to the bridge for briefing." Yami recognized the voice as Ryuji Otogi, Honda's boyfriend; but he apparently wasn't the only one. Bakura groaned in frustrated resentment as he hit the button to connect to the voice and growled, "Your timing fuckin' _sucks ass _Otogi! I should've known your happy-ass dickface would be on this goddamn ship; I just wish someone had fuckin' _warned _me."

Otogi chimed back on the private speaker in a disgusted voice, "Of course Bakura is on the damn ship; why am I not surprised. I don't understand how it is that you can still be considered one of Hiroto and Jou's friends, but then again I don't understand how it is that someone hasn't slit your throat in your sleep yet, asshole."

Bakura's face contorted in contempt at this but before he could answer back, Jou pushed him out of the way and replied back to Otogi cheerfully, "Hey Otogi! We'll be dere in a sec; tell Honda I said hey, would ya?"

Otogi's voice brightened considerably as he replied back to Jou, "Hey Jou, so this is the room they put you in huh? Sorry that you have to put up with assface there; and don't worry about Honda, he's on his way to the bridge as well."

Jou smiled gleefully while Bakura grumbled and glared hatefully at the speaker on the wall; seeming to be imagining that his glare would somehow go through the piece of machinery and be seen by the still-unseen man to know of his full displeasure. Jou replied back cheerfully, "'Kay Otogi, see ya' later man!" Bakura climbed down from his bunk, grumbling insults all the way, and they all left the room, heading towards the bridge.

Yami raised an eyebrow at the blonde and in an amused tone of voice said, "Why am I not surprised that the two friends you spoke of are Honda and Otogi?"

Jou looked at Yami in surprised delight and asked, "Ya know dem?"

Yami nodded and explained, "I met Honda as we boarded the submarine in New Jersey and he introduced me to a friend of his, Malik Ishtar, and explained about his boyfriend Ryuji Otogi."

Jou and Bakura both stopped abruptly to stare at Yami in shock as they asked in unison, "Malik is on de/the ship?!" Each asked in a different tone of voice; the former with a hint of unease and dread, and the latter with a mixture of delighted expectation and wicked mischief. Yami wondered at the differentiating tones and nodded wearily, causing Jou to groan in despair and Bakura to smirk evilly as he ran down the hall towards the bridge. Yami looked at Rebecca and they both shrugged their shoulders and they turned to Jou in unison, Yami asking, "Is that bad? He seemed polite enough, not nearly as bad as Bakura, if a little mischievous."

Jou had tipped his head back and closed his eyes as though he was in immense pain from something, but at Yami's question he straightened and looked despairingly at Yami before explaining, "Malik is fine on his own, but if ya combine him wit' Bakura dey become the biggest set' a troublemakers in de history of pranksters. Dey decide on a specific target for any get-togeder and play horrible jokes on dat person, and last time dey were togeder it was me; though dey will do pranks on anyone if dey're given de chance." Jou replied despondently. Yami was surprised at the information, but on reflection of what he knew about Bakura and Malik's personalities so far, he figured he shouldn't be surprised if that was how they were when they were around each other.

The three began walking again towards the bridge as Yami asked, "So how is it that you five know each other and are all on the same expedition?"

Jou looked at Yami with a grin as he explained, "All' a us, 'cept Malik, were raised in de same city. Honda an' Otogi were adopted an' lived there an' Honda joined the local gang dat me an' Bakura happened ta be a part' a. Bakura grew up on de streets an' I lived wit' ma dad an' got rebellious in ma teenage years. A few years later, Malik suddenly showed up on de streets when we were in high school an' joined de gang. De four' a us eventually formed dis really tight-knit group an' our gang tried to hurt us when de whole sexual orientation ting came out so we four broke off from dem. Honda an' I are still best friends, an' a' course I'm friends wit' Otogi as well, an' me, Malik, an' Bakura kept in touch over de years even when dey moved out' a de country. I don't know how Malik an' Bakura got de job, dough I'm pretty sure Pegasus chose dem himself based off' a deir 'talents', an' I got dis job from Honda an' Otogi." Jou concluded.

Yami was a little surprised to find out that Honda had been part of a gang at one point but decided it was none of his business; before he could ask a different question though, Rebecca asked, "What about the 'sexual orientation thing'?" She thought she knew but didn't want to jump to conclusions, nor was she being condescending, she was just curious.

Jou scrutinized her for a second, just gauging her expression, and found that there was no hint of disgust, just open curiosity, he explained, "Honda an' Otogi are bot' gay an' in love wit' each oder; an' Malik an' Bakura are also gay, but not wit' each oder." He explained.

Rebecca sounded a drawn-out, "Oooohhhh," in comprehension, before turning to Jou curiously and asked, "And you?" She was still very nonjudgmental, still only asking in curiosity.

Jou seemed taken aback by the sudden question, and actually scrunched his face up in serious thought of the question. He was silent for several seconds as he pondered the question, the three of them walking along in silence, until he answered seriously, "Ya' know, I neva had anyone question me about it before. I guess I would have ta say dat I'm mostly straight, wit' a little bit' a bisexual tendencies." At her confused look, he elaborated, "I mostly prefer women, but I would be lying if I said de idea' a bein' wit' a guy hasn't crossed ma mind. I guess if I had ta choose a guy ova a girl den he'd have ta be pretty special ta me, dat's all I'm sayin'." Jou seemed to be staring inwardly, contemplating how he would phrase the answer to get the meaning across. Yami understood perfectly, he was the same way; he just shortened it to bisexual to make it shorter for easier explanation. Rebecca still seemed a little confused but dropped the subject since they had arrived at the bridge.

Walking into the bridge Yami immediately scanned his surroundings looking for his brother. He noticed a familiar ebony spiked head tipped with purple over the top railing of an adjacent catwalk on a floor above him. Yami climbed the stairs in excitement as he noticed that his twin had his back to him as Heba talked to Honda while Malik and Bakura were exchanging words with devious smiles nearby them; Honda noticed him and a smile of greeting crossed his face and he was about to call out to him, but Yami put a finger to his lips to indicate silence. Luckily Heba hadn't noticed the brunets' reaction; he was still rambling on about something with his head in a book as Yami snuck up quietly behind his twin. Jou and Rebecca were surprised to see another person that had the same hair as Yami, while Yami appeared to be sneaking up behind the other person with a wicked grin. Tiptoeing towards his brother in an uncharacteristically childlike manner, Yami came up behind his brother and quickly wrapped his arms around his twins' waist with a teasingly menacing growl of, "Guess who?"

* * *

_**~~Heba Mutou~~**_

Heba had gotten lost for a good twenty-five minutes before he discovered that he had made a complete circle and found himself back in front of his room. Malik and Honda had both settled down by the time Heba got back and when he explained to them his lousy sense of direction with a bright-red face, Honda had chivalrously offered to help him to the bridge, politely hiding his smile of amusement for Heba's sake, while Malik howled with laughter at the irony of an explorer with a horrible sense of direction and decided to go along with them.

Keith had been pissed off at him that he had been so late and Heba had to apologize profusely to him with his face still red in embarrassment. Keith had impatiently debriefed him and told Heba that once the crew was assembled to give them a run-down version of what to expect on their way to Atlantis. Heba had already translated the coordinates on where the underwater opening to Atlantis was and Keith had told him that they would be nearing the coordinates in about an hour, before he walked over to a speaker to tell Otogi to assemble the rest of the crew. Honda asked Heba a question regarding the Journal to which Heba pulled out the Golden Box, missing the gleam of interest at the pure gold in Malik and Keiths' eyes, and pulled out the Journal to begin flipping through pages to explain a few questions that Honda had. A couple minutes later, the sound of pounding boots could be heard running up the catwalks and everyone turned to watch a white-haired man with russet-colored eyes come barreling towards them. Heba recognized the man immediately as the man with the crates full of dynamite that had intimidated him so much, and he instinctively shrank away from him. Heba recognized the deep voice belonging to Honda let out a groan of frustration next to him while he heard Malik suck in an overly loud breath of utter delight as he exclaimed, "My partner-in-crime! Bakura!"

Heba watched in confusion as Malik rushed across the distance and tackled the white-haired man, now introduced as Bakura, into a bear hug as identically devious smiles crossed their faces as they pulled each other into a corner to begin plotting together in mischievous whispers. Heba turned to Honda, a clear question in his wide amethyst eyes, but Honda shook his head and warned, "That's another friend of ours Heba, his name is Bakura Sakkaku. He and Malik are the worst pranksters when they're together, beware of them if you see them anywhere together. Beware Heba, and be very afraid." He looked directly into Heba's eyes and told him this half-jokingly and half-seriously. At Heba's look of dread Honda smiled encouragingly and decided to give him a break; he changed the subject and asked a few more questions about the Journal, suitably impressed that Heba could translate the weird symbols that somehow made words in the Journal.

Heba was translating something under his breath, trying to find an answer to one of Honda's questions in the Journal, when he felt a pair of arms suddenly grab him from behind and a familiar voice growl out in fake menace, "Guess who?"

Heba whipped his head around in stunned disbelief to see endearingly familiar crimson-colored eyes gleaming at him out of a pale and angular face whose resemblance he saw every day in the mirror. Heba's stunned eyes flew open impossibly wide as he screamed out exuberantly, "YAMI!" He tackled his older twin and the two fell in a heap on the ground when Yami lost his footing; Heba wrapped his arms around his brother while tears of joy spilled from his eyes while he chanted his brothers' name under his breath. Yami cradled his brother in his arms as he tipped his head back and laughed at his brother's exuberance and in happiness at the reunion with his tanned twin. Yami grinned in unadulterated happiness as he stood up with Heba still clinging to him, completely ignoring the small crowd watching the familial reunion. Heba could only stutter in confused happiness, "H-how – W-why-?"

Yami only grinned into his twins' confused face and raised an amused eyebrow as he said, "How can I be here and why?" When Heba could only nod, Yami explained with a small laugh, "Pegasus needed a veteran survivalist for the expedition and sent me a letter saying to go to an address in New Jersey if I accepted the offer; so I went and was on the submarine and I waited for you." Heba looked surprised, he was wondering if the fact that his twin was on an expedition to _Atlantis_ of all places meant that his soul was beginning to heal; but before Heba could even begin to feel a sliver of joy at the thought, Yami crashed that idea when his lips twisted sardonically as he continued, "I was told that Pegasus was offering you a job on this idiotic expedition and, knowing that you would accept without question, I decided to come along to make sure you didn't get into any trouble."

Heba's shoulders slumped momentarily as he felt mixed feeling about his twins' convoluted answer; he was very disappointed that his brother was still not accepting the idea of Atlantis being real and was only there to humor him, but he felt happiness that he and his brother were finally together again. Resolutely squaring his shoulders, Heba shook off the feelings and focused purely on the fact that his brother was in front of him and that they were going on the expedition to Atlantis together; regardless of how Yami felt about the situation. Finally noticing the curious eyes of the crew staring at him and his brother Heba pulled away to glance at Yami to the crew and back again to get his point across. Yami, knowing his twin wanted introductions to the two new crew members he had walked in with, spent the next ten minutes giving introductions and chatting with the crew that he knew while Heba did the same.

Nobody seemed to notice the little white light that began flashing on the screen and Keith was too busy quietly conversing with Mai on the upper catwalk to flip the switch. Five minutes later of everyone just getting to know each other, the sound of shoes landing heavily on the catwalk below making their way towards them reached their ears. Everyone turned towards the stairs as the sound of irritated mutterings could be heard from the stairs and a black haired man made his way towards them. Long black hair was pulled into a ponytail and held in place by a red headband with a black diamond pattern across his forehead. The man wore a sleeveless red vest, the same color as his headband, over a simple black t-shirt that clung to his lithe chest and simple black jeans. He had pair of matching bracer-like wristbands and a couple of golden armbands on each arm while a single six-sided die swung from a small chain attached at his left ear. Black eyeliner seemed to emphasize neon-green eyes that were currently narrowed in irritation as a single black streak, much like a tear stain, was artfully designed to flow down his left cheek. In his right ear was a Bluetooth and he held a laptop under his arm as his black sneakers angrily stomped up the stairs to reach them.

Brown eyes lit up with love as Honda saw his boyfriend and called his name in greeting, "Ryuji!" Green eyes flicked to him briefly, his eyes slightly softening as he acknowledged his lover, but his stride never paused as he marched passed them all to exaggeratingly flip the little glowing light off.

Otogi then turned to them and said in sarcastic irritation, "Good to know that someone was listening to the call that I've been broadcasting for the last _five minutes._" Without giving anyone a chance to answer back he peevishly looked upwards towards Keith and Mai and told them in stony English, "**We're approaching the set coordinates**." His voice was even more charismatic and sexy in real life, with a low-pitched tone quality that seemed to seep into the listeners bones and cause them to shiver; his voice was the epitome of the term 'bedroom voice'.

He was about to go back downstairs to the communications office but Honda put a hand on his arm to stop him, saying, "Koi, just stay here. We're about to get briefed anyway by Heba Mutou," he gestured to the tanned man with the oddly spiky hair before continuing, "and it would be much easier to only have to tell the instructions once." Sharing a loving exchange of glances with each other, Otogi nodded his assent and turned towards the amethyst eyed young man after raising an eyebrow of inquiry towards his lover. Honda made the introductions between everyone and the other new crew members and Otogi smirked at them in friendliness. He already knew his friends and he greeted Jou with brief but heartfelt man-hug, kept his distance but nodded a wearily friendly nod to Malik, and flicked a glance of acknowledgment towards Bakura that he reciprocated. He nodded politely towards Rebecca with a flirtatious smile, ever the playboy even in fun, and shook hands with Yami and Heba before returning to his boyfriends' side and put a possessive arm around his waist.

He then commented in his bedroom voice with a teasing glint in his bright green eyes, "You know, you two are a lot shorter than I would have pictured you. I wouldn't have expected Pegasus to hire two teenagers for this expedition either." He glanced at Rebecca and Heba as he said the last bit.

Yami narrowed his eyes at being called short but he smirked to himself as he waited for his twin to explode. Sure enough, Heba's tanned face gained a reddish tint from anger as he exclaimed in indignation, "I'm not a teenager, I'm twenty-three years old!" At this everyone looked surprised; except Yami. Even Rebecca had thought that the tanned young man had been only fifteen at the most; she was slightly disappointed with the larger age difference, she had thought that Heba was cute and was exactly her type of guy.

Heba hated how everyone always thought that he was still a teenager and thought it highly unfair that his twin was never mistaken for one. It was almost ironic that Heba was constantly mistaken as being younger than he really was while Yami was always thought to be older then his actual years; in fact, he could remember one instance when he and Yami were in middle school when they had snuck into a bar with some friends and Yami was given a drink by a sultry woman hitting on him.

Yami chuckled at his brothers' expression and explained in amusement, "Heba and I are twins." Everyone's mouth dropped at this news and here Yami laughed out loud.

Jou broke the ice while still gaping at them, "No way! I would' a neva guessed!" Everyone else expressed similar thoughts and Heba dissolved into silently pouting. Aside from Mai and Keith, who were too far away to hear the conversation, the only one that didn't seem to care was Bakura; and really why should he? In his mind it didn't matter.

Several minutes later, after everyone had calmed down, Keith and Mai made their way towards them and Keith told Heba, "**We'll be at the set of coordinates that you gave to us in about twenty minutes; now would be a good time to brief us on anything that might be of relevance, Mr. Mutou**."

Heba grabbed his bag that he had dropped in all the excitement that held all of his presentational accoutrements. He unloaded it quickly to set up his presentation, beginning to feel a little nervous at the chance to speak in front of these people. Unthinkingly he handed Yami a few things to hold as he began setting up his presentation, and was shocked at the sudden burst of golden light that shone from the Golden Box that he had unknowingly shoved into Yami's hands. Everyone shielded their eyes at the suddenly blinding light, but it winked out within a few seconds. "What the hell was that?" was the general question asked, to which Heba had no answer. Yami seemed just as shocked but the only thing he could say was, "I don't know. It just started glowing." Heba wasn't sure he believed his twin, he could see the tiny gleam in his eyes that meant he was holding something back, but after Yami sent him a glance that seemed to say 'later' Heba continued with his set up. Yami cradled the box to his chest and kept sending it small glances of suspicion, but he didn't say anything else.

Everyone, still slightly perturbed by the sudden light and giving the box weary but curious glances, turned to Heba when he cleared his throat to gain their attention. Extremely nervous, he had never made a speech in front of actual people before, he awkwardly started in English so that everyone could understand him (Keith doesn't speak Japanese), "**G-good afternoon, can everyone hear me all right**?" Several chuckles sounded from Otogi and Malik before they were quieted by elbows to the ribs. Jou, Honda, and Yami smiled in amusement but nodded in friendly assent towards him in encouragement. Bakura merely stared at him in boredom, and Rebecca looked at him as though he was an adorable puppy that she just wanted to cuddle with.

Heba tried for a more confident tone as he stepped in front of a projector and continued, "**The first slide is a depiction of a creature; a creature so frightening that sailors were said to have been driven mad by the mere sight of it**." Here he uploaded one of his pictures labeled 'Monster' from his zip drive to project unto the screen; only to turn bright red when he picked the wrong one, to show a picture taken of himself and Yami when they were toddlers during bath-time with Yami piling soapsuds onto his head making him look like some type of monster. Heba had accidentally clicked on 'Monster Heba' instead of 'Monster' when his hand slipped due to his nervousness.

Everyone laughed at the picture, Yami included, and made teasing remarks while Heba blushed in embarrassment. Malik's remark was the loudest as he called out mischievously, "**Oh yes, **_**very **_**scary. I think the sailors were right; I think I'm beginning to feel the madness come upon me!**" Here he dramatically clutched at his chest and pretended to swoon, while Bakura merely shook his head at his friends over-dramatics and rolled his eyes while saying under his breath, "Damn. I used to take lunch money from dorks like him." Rebecca only smiled and quietly sighed dreamily, "**Aww, he's **_**so **_**cute.**" The only one's to hear her were Honda, Otogi, and Jou who burst out laughing at her words.

Heba hastily clicked the 'back' button on the slide with an embarrassed, "**Sorry about that, that one was wrong.**" Clicking on the correct slide he continued in a relieved tone, "**Now, **_**this **_**is an illustration of what the Greeks called the Leviathan**." He showed a scan of a Greek text with a large fish with strange bumps on it seeming to jump out of a wave and break apart a ship.

Everyone was highly unimpressed with the archaic depiction of the so-called 'monster', Heba included, and Bakura snorted derisively before saying sarcastically, "**With something like that I would have soy sauce and… **_**white **_**wine I think**."

Jou quipped, "**I don't know Bakura, I think something like that should be simmered in Hollandaise sauce and served with some champagne**." Jou looked thoughtful, but his eyes were teasing as he contemplated the archaically drawn fish on the screen. Everyone snorted and Otogi made some quip about a long romantic dinner with Honda to which said brunet smacked his boyfriend on the back of the head.

Heba let them have their jokes before clearing is throat again to gain their attention and continued, "**According to the Greeks, this is the creature charged with guarding the entrance to Atlantis. However, according to the Journal, the Atlanteans called it by a different name that some of you who play Duel Monsters may recognize as**," Heba clicked to the next slide to show a picture of a Duel Monsters card that depicted a fish that appeared to be made completely out of rocks with a circular golden harness-like headdress around its gray body and it had a row of razor sharp teeth in its opened mouth, Heba watched recognition flash on Rebecca and Yami's faces as he continued, "**the Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth**."

Everyone else was confused, and Jou couldn't help but to ask, "**How in da hell did da Atlanteans tell o' someting dat wasn't even created yet**?" Only Yami, who had heard the story from their Grandpa, was unaffected by the discovery.

Heba explained, getting into his element, "**Well, the Atlanteans were said to have had mystical creatures that they lived with, fought with, and used for everything from transportation to weapons. These creatures were catalogued in an ancient Egyptian shrine that was excavated within the last ten years; the one who funded the excavation was the same person who is funding ours, Pegasus J. Crawford. When he found the illustrations of the creatures, he utilized them and recreated them for marketing as his famous Duel Monsters franchise**."

Everyone besides Yami gaped at this news, even Mai and Keith were shocked at this discovery; nobody noticed Malik, who had gone strangely pale and was staring at the Duel Monster on the screen with a haunted look in his eyes, as he whispered under his breath, "Kul Elna." Even Bakura, who was standing right next to him, hadn't heard his quietly whispered words.

Heba continued with his presentation after everyone had gotten somewhat over their shock, "**It's a mythical sea monster that was described could, quoting the Journal, 'Out of its mouth go burning lights and sparks of fire shoot out'**." Here he waved his arms about for dramatic emphasizing, but Heba disregarded the description with a shrug as he rationalized, "**But more than likely it's just a carving; or a sculpture just to frighten the superstitious**."

Keith had had enough of the mythical psycho-babble and questioned sarcastically, "**So after we find this masterpiece, then what**?"

Before Heba had a chance to say anything though, Malik cut in with his earlier enthusiasm, "**When do we **_**dig**_?!"

Heba turned off the projector and pulled out a wet-erase marker to draw on the white-board behind him as he happily explained to Malik, "**Actually, we don't have to dig**." Here he drew a large squiggly line near the top to indicate the ocean surface and beneath it he drew two lines with a crevice between them that swerved downwards before flowing upwards and then drew a circle to indicate and cave, he then added a squiggly line across the middle of the cave to indicate where there was an air pocket. He then added a small path the led away from the air pocket in the cave that ended at a capitalized A he drew to represent Atlantis. Heba went into greater detail, "**According to the Journal, the path to Atlantis is at a tunnel to the bottom of the ocean. We'll come up a curve to an air pocket, where we'll find the remnants of an ancient highway that will lead us to Atlantis. Kind of like the grease trap in your sink." **Heba tried to explain so that everyone would understand.

Mai played with a blond curl of hair as she dryly teased, "**Cartographer, linguist, plumber; it's hard to believe he's still single**." Rebecca narrowed her eyes at the sultry blond in offense. Everyone else but Keith was unamused at her words, and only Honda heard the pissed off, "Blonde Bitch," muttered from Jou. Nobody really liked Mai, and nobody could stand Keith; the two were very prejudiced against homosexuality, although for entirely different reasons.

Malik was not happy at this new development of not even having to dig and he whined piteously, "**But you two said that there would be digging!**"

To which Mai irritatedly replied with a shooing motion, "**Go **_**away**_**, Malik.**"

Before anyone else could say anything, the man who was piloting the submarine called over to Keith, "**Captain! You might want to come look at this, sir!**"

Keith looked around at the gathered people and said, "**Okay everyone, class dismissed.**" He waved Mai to proceed him as they made their way up to the catwalks while everyone else followed out of curiosity to see what was going on. Keith addressed the helmsman, "**Give me exterior lights.**"

Giant lights emanated from the sides of the Kingshark's 'eyes' allowing people to see out them. Searchlights streaked downwards to show the ocean floor and everyone's eyes widened at the sight that lay strewn in front of the submarine. Thousands of broken ships lay sunken and damaged beyond repair, as far as the eye could see. Jaws dropped at the eerie sight and more than a few people shivered at the graveyard of ships. Heba and Yami were mentally cataloguing the ships with growing concern; depictions of a certain sea monster teased the edges of their subconscious before they resolutely turned the frightening images away, but still they haunted that tiny superstitious part of their souls that every person had. Yami and Heba spoke in unison with the same awed and slightly creeped-out tone of voice, "**There are ships here from every era**." The submarine moved on, passing over an outcropping of stone that wasn't littered with debris, searchlights continued moving forward without a second glance; nobody could see that as soon as they were out of range from the outcropping, it floated upwards and crystal-blue eyes opened to watch the submarine as the rock-like outcropping swam stealthily after it. Hunting it.

* * *

**HOLY CRAP! I am SO sorry it took so long to update! TT_TT But I got another 17 pages done, Halleluiah! Thanks to all my viewers and reviewers for being so patient with me! I finally got to finish this today cuz I got sick and could stay home from school; so, mixed blessing there. ^_^**

**Just have to say that I give full credit to Slim Shady/Eminem and his song "Real Slim Shady Please Stand Up" for the part that Bakura insulted Rebecca; for any of you that might catch his song lyrics, yes that's what I based it off of.**

**I apologize to any that were insulted by Bakura's words but that's just the way I always pictured him. I also apologize for leaving this at a cliff-hanger, but I just felt that here was a good place to put a break. Lastly, I apologize if I made Rebecca a bit OOC-ish, I haven't gotten that far in the series to actually meeting her so I have no basis to give her her character (and I haven't read that many fanfics that she's in to have a comfortable comparison), so I just winged it. ^_^; But based off of her action descriptions that I read about her, I **_**think**_** I got her character to be, at the very least, similar to the anime Rebecca… I hope?**

**To any that are curious, the look and sound that Malik had on his face when he and Bakura first met up was based off of an actual reaction from Pewdiepie on Youtube. To any that are interested, video is at watch?v=kQgLIt6aaQw, and the time of the reaction begins on 11:38.**


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I, FallTigerKisa, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Neither it's characters, themes, nor plots (no matter how much I would have loved to make it into a yaoi). Nor do I, FallTigerKisa, own Atlantis The Lost Empire.

Please Note: THIS IS RATED M FOR A REASON! Filled with juicy yaoi and hentai goodness and enough lemons to make a roomful of fangirls sigh in bliss (or at least enough to make me satisfied without destroying the plot). Painings:YxYY, AtemuxHeba, SetoxJou, BxR, MxYM, and slight HxO, DMxDMG, SethxKisara, and MokubaxShizuka.

I have since decided that all dialogue will be in Japanese but automatically translated in English, but when the conversations are in English the words will be in English in all "**Bold**", with none of the translated word in parenthesis of course. However, a word written in "**Bold"**with the English translation in (Parenthesis) is in a different language. ~_Italicized~_with little squiggly lines are mind-to-mind conversations. And to really mess with you all I might just put them both together in which they are mind-to-mind in a different language. I assume you all do not need an example. I'm also adding _Italicized_ as regular thoughts.

This does not include bashing of any kind, I have a high respect for all Yu-Gi-Oh characters (except Bandit Keith A.K.A Rourke) and I based their Atlantis counterparts off of strange connections I made up in my own twisted mind, so please do not get offended if an otherwise good Yu-Gi-Oh character is given a weird Atlantis counterpart, and vice versa.

Also, the perspective will change between characters and I will have their ~~_**Name**_~~ in bold italics between four squiggly lines in the middle of the page. This is in third-person but the perspective will change; the story will follow that person and his/her adventures but still in third-person.

WARNING: This chapter has _very _offensive language (that's what you get when you have Yami Bakura, I'll just call him Bakura, in a chapter).

Please Review! I take all comments; positive or negative, UNLESS they have to do with the yaoi, homosexual thing, in which I have only to say "DON"T LIKE, DON'T READ!" Can't get any simpler than that.

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Abyssal Kingshark Submarine, Atlantic Ocean Ocean-floor

The crew stared out at the graveyard of ships laid out before them, very disquieted and uneasy; although some tried to hide it, they all felt a sliver of fear trace icy tendrils up their spines. Minutes passed and Keith seemed to come out of his stupor with an immediate, "**Those of you who should be elsewhere, go now; everyone back to work**." Rebecca, Malik, and Bakura left the bridge with a faint air of relief that they no longer had to be subject to the disturbing site. Malik and Bakura worked as gunners in the case of emergencies and they both felt their instincts screaming at them to get to where they could fight. Rebecca headed downstairs towards the engine rooms where her work centralized around.

The others, Honda, Otogi, Jou, Yami, and Heba, all had nothing else that needed to be done so they stayed put even though they would have preferred to be somewhere else. Only Yami had shaken off his vague sense of danger and stood searching through the debris with very little fear; he was a veteran survivalist for a reason, and besides, it was in his very nature to be utterly fearless.

Searchlights scanned the debris with regular sweeping motions, searching for they knew not what. They never noticed the dark shadow that creeped its way stealthily below the submarine, the shadow itself at least three times larger than the immense submarine; else terror would have struck many in the crew mute and frozen. A faint sound, the telltale subtle whooshing of underwater movement, was the only sound that could be heard from the shadow that swam behind the submarine. Fifteen minutes passed from the time they entered the shipyard, and with each passing moment of nothing happening the crew began to relax; so much so that Keith turned his attention away from the disturbing sight to address Heba, "**We're getting pretty close to the coordinates, what does your Journal have to say about where to find this opening?" **

Heba blinked and startled a bit at Keith's question, but he opened the Journal to search for the answer. Yami continued looking out at the shipyard, searching for a danger he could feel but couldn't see. Otogi had pulled up a chair to access his laptop, scanning the audio waves on the outside sensors of the submarine, while Honda, vaguely alarmed and sensing danger, sat behind his lover with his arms protectively clasped around Otogi's waist with his chin resting on his love's shoulder; praying that his instincts were wrong and, if they were right, that nothing happen to his lover, Otogi. Jou, always a natural-born fighter, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Yami, also scanning the outside of the submarine on the alert for danger; when suddenly his cell phone went off. Heba jumped at the noise in nervousness while Otogi and Jou stared at the cell phone in confusion. Otogi, as the Communications Officer, remarked, "That's strange. You shouldn't be able to get anything from anyone on the surface, the signal is too weak."

Jou stared at his still ringing cell phone, perplexed, before shrugging to himself and flipped it open. When he read the caller ID his face dissolved into a mask of surprise before he quickly answered the phone with a worried, "You're not supposed ta be able ta call me until a few more days, did ya have one o' da nurses help ya wit' dialin' da phone? How did da surgery go, Shizuka?" Honda and Otogi both looked up at the name in sudden interest and concern, they adored Jou's younger sister Shizuka and saw her as the little sister that they never had. Yami had perked his ears in interest, he had heard about Jou's sister needing a medical treatment but Jou had never specified on what it was she needed; Yami felt a sudden rush of concern if it was something that required surgery, his own intensely protective instincts for his own younger sibling connecting with Jou's in compassion. Jou, after listening to the other person on the line, suddenly paled drastically; his face lost all color as the blood drained from his face and shock fell over his features. Honda and Otogi rose from their positions, alarm washing over their faces at their friends' expression, each one praying that nothing had happened to Shizuka, terror for their friends' sister sparking in their eyes. Jou staggered for a moment, Yami reached out to help him if he should fall, but he caught the railing in his one remaining hand as he leaned against it for support, bloodless lips croaking out a single question, "You're _where_?"

Multiple sets of eyes blinked at the unexpected question, but a second later Jou was sprinting out of the bridge; Otogi and Honda both started after him, but Honda turned to his lover and said, "Stay, I'll keep you updated!" Otogi almost protested but then he clamped his jaw shut and threw a walkie-talkie to his lover that Honda caught, before chasing after his best friend. Yami and Otogi stared after the quickly retreating pair in concern before Otogi turned back to sit down in his chair with a deep frown. Yami, after a second more of staring at the empty hallway that the two had vanished through, turned back to looking out the submarine; completely missing Otogi's look of sudden confusion as he readjusted a knob on his laptop and pressed his ear closer to his Bluetooth.

Heba, a floor above, hadn't seen the disturbance and was still looking for Keith's answer in his book, before finally finding it. Tracing his finger across the page in time with his halting translation of the ancient text, he slowly and carefully translated the foreign language, "**Predesh-tem lo ta-nuhg nah-gep. Enter the lair of the Leviathan, there you will find the path to the gateway.**"

Heba tapped the page excitedly, but before Mai or Keith could make a disparaging remark on his translation that he had already told them about, Otogi raised his voice to be heard to the floor above him, "**Commander, I think you might want to come hear this.**"

Keith, Mai, and Heba made their way downstairs to listen to whatever it was Otogi had to say; even Keith had to admit, though greatly disgruntled, that Otogi did his job well and wouldn't have called them unless he had heard something. The three found themselves behind a highly disturbed Otogi who was listening to something intently, Keith asked in veiled disgust at having to address the fag, "**What is it Mr. Otogi?**"

Yami wandered over, curious about what the black-haired man had discovered, and caught the gleam of disgust in Keith's eyes and his dislike for the man ratcheted up another notch; the same went with Heba who move away from the slimy man to go stand next to his brother. Otogi, far too used to the prick and already hating his guts, barely acknowledged the man and pretended that he was addressing Yami instead, he liked the crimson-eyed man and would have been much happier with him as the commander instead of Keith; it wasn't a hard transition, Yami seemed to have an indefinable aura of leadership that clung to him and Otogi automatically deferred to him for leadership. He answered in vague disquiet, looking Yami directly in the eye, "**I'm picking up something on the hydrophone, I think you should hear it.**"

Yami opened his mouth to automatically reply, but Keith, never having seen the slight exchange, inadvertently beat him to it and said, "**Put it on speakers**." Otogi almost jumped at the reminder that Yami wasn't his commander and hid his displeasure at the thought as he flipped the speakerphone switch. A deep-throated roaring-like sound came over the speaker-phones that made everyone feel highly uncomfortable; even Yami wasn't unaffected as he glanced outside uneasily.

The still hidden shadow that stalked the submarine heard its own call emanate from the foreign thing it was following and swam away swiftly, thinking the thing was about to attack and fell back behind it to assume its' own attack mode.

Inside the submarine, Mai looked over at Otogi and asked, "**What is it, a pod of whales?**"

Otogi, still very disturbed, gripped the walkie-talkie in his hand tighter until his knuckles went white as he answered despondently, "**Uh-uh. Bigger.**" He contemplated calling his lover, to warn him, but his focus was suddenly directed to the manicured-hand of Mai suddenly touching _his _equipment as she turned a knob to increase the sound.

Mai, not even noticing the highly offended glare of rage that Otogi directed her, turned another knob and remarked, "**Sounds metallic; could be an echo off one of the rocks.**"

Otogi snorted at her in disgust, clearly she didn't know _shit_ about his job; that sound had definitely _not _been metallic, it had sounded organic in every way, and whatever it was had sounded _very _pissed off. Otogi had to refrain from slapping the blonde bitchs' hand away from his laptop but he couldn't help but to sneer at her, "**You wanna do my job? Be my guest.**"

Mai narrowed her eyes at the green-eyed man in anger at his tone, but before she could say anything she was interrupted by Heba and Yami, who had both noticed the slight variation in the under-water tone as they ignored the crew's sniping, and Heba asked in growing concern, "**Is it just me, or is that getting louder?**" Indeed the sound had gotten louder and the twins shared a glance of worry as everyone went silent to listen; but then the sound tapered off and grew softer until it was gone completely.

Everyone was silent for a moment before Mai chimed in barely hidden relief, acquiring a tone of indifference, "**Well, whatever it was, it's gone now.**"

Keith, still somewhat uneasy, ordered, "**Helmsman, bring us about. Tighten our search pattern and slow us-,**" he never got to finish as the submarine suddenly lurched to a stop, sending everyone toppling to the floor.

The shadow attacked the foreign thing in its territory by grabbing it with its teeth and tried to bite through it to break it apart, just as it had done with every other foreign object that crossed its path; but it's teeth didn't go very deep, whatever the object was, it was harder than any of the other interlopers that it had destroyed and the shadow released its prey in its surprise.

Rebecca near the engine room, almost fell over but managed to keep her feet as she maneuvered through the hallway towards her destination to assess the damage, shouting to the other crew members to move out of her way. The creature, in its effort to readjust itself to attack the object again, accidentally slapped it with a misplaced fin, sending it spinning in the water. Rebecca grabbed the railing as she found her way to the engine room and red emergency lights began blaring.

The submarine spun a bit at the sudden release but was quick to right itself, but wound up face-to-face with the previously unseen shadow; the light's around the submarines' 'eyes' illuminating the terrifying visage of the attacking creature. Heba, who had fallen off the railing and unto the glass 'eye' stared in terror, with only the suddenly frail-seeming glass as a barrier, at a crystal-blue eye that dilated in astonishing quickness at the sudden light when the creature had lived for so long in darkness. Heba whispered in stunned terror, his face going impossibly pale in his fright, "It's the Leviathan." The exact visage of the card from earlier stared back at him though the 'eyes' of the Abyssal Kingshark submarine, and Heba could only stare at it in awed terror.

Keith righted himself relatively quickly as he shouted to Mai, "**Tell Jounochi to bring out the butter and wine, I want this fish served up on a silver platter.**"

Mai turned to the nearest crew member and shouted orders, "**Load the torpedo bays, battle pod groups to battle stations!**" Before the submarine was smacked again and sent everyone tumbling to the floor, except Yami who had been trying to reach his terrified twin, and grabbed him only to abruptly lose momentum and drag himself and his brother backwards, away from the glass. They fell on a heap on the floor, Yami instinctively curling around his younger brother to take the brunt of their fall; all the air whooshed out of Yami's lungs as he hit the deck hard and he laid there momentarily stunned.

A dozen battle pods were launched, one of them containing Bakura and Malik, as they moved around the ship to quickly attack the offending Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth. Malik laughed maniacally at the adrenaline rush as he piloted the pod while Bakura grinned evilly as he shot torpedoes at the overgrown rock-fish cursing at it, "Take _this _you ugly-ass mother_fucker_!" The ancient guardian shrieked its outrage as it focused mainly on the little things attacking it with surprising strength, bleeding from where the torpedoes hit it hard enough for it to be royally pissed off at the little creatures.

Breaks in the hull from the Leviathan's teeth were causing serious leakages in the hull, causing Rebecca to run around in the inner deck to lock up the damaged part of the ship so that no water damaged the highly technological equipment that they counted on for survival.

Keith, having realized that the Leviathan's attention was no longer centered on them, ordered, "**It's distracted! All ahead full!**" The helmsman didn't need to be told twice as he pushed the submarine into full throttle to escape from the giant fish. The Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth had turned away to face the may little targets, and slapped one with one of its fins, causing it to explode upon impact. The other ones maneuvered out of its way with little hassle and as the creature continued missing its little targets, it became frustrated and released a charge of its lightning attack from its mouth to streak accurately towards a battle pod, destroying it instantly. Bakura and Malik cursed heavily at this new development. Just then the submarine sent out its' own torpedoes to assist the pods in battle, causing the creature damage but also drawing its attention; it fired off another streak of lightning that penetrated through the entire submarine.

Pressure, from the new development of tons of gallons of water beginning to submerge the submarine, caused nuts and bolt to fly out of their places as they gave way to the unbearable pressure of the bulk-head twisting out of its shape. Rebecca was showered in the fast-flying little bolts as she shielded herself as best she could while running away from the worst parts of the submarine. She climbed up a ladder that led to a non-damaged part of the engine room as it was sealed up behind her and shouted at one of the working mechanics near her, "**Get me the bridge!**"

Otogi got the call from Rebecca and urgently shouted out, "**Sir, it's engineering on the fourth line!**"

Keith, praying that the damage wasn't too bad, immediately flipped the switch to speaker-phone to hear Rebecca screech out, "**Keith! We took a big hit down here and we're taking on water fast! I don't want to be around when it hits the boilers!**"

Keith strived for a calm tone as he asked grimly, "**How much time do we have?**"

Rebecca quickly calculated and replied, "**Twenty minutes if the bulkhead holds.**" A sudden crack on the other side of the line sounded before Rebecca amended, "**Better make that five.**"

Keith, knowing the submarine to be a lost cause, looked over the edge of the railing and called out to everyone below, "**Well, you heard the lady, let's move.**" Yami grabbed Heba's hand to usher him towards the emergency pods and grabbed up the Golden Box and its Journal, while Otogi was still connected at his laptop as he shouted directions into his walkie-talkie.

Mai ordered Otogi urgently, "**Otogi, sound the alert!**"

Otogi, already way ahead of her, had already finished sounding the alarm and ignored her orders to speak into his walkie-talkie to alert his lover who was with their friend. Heba, having noticed that Otogi was waiting for Honda, grabbed him as he and Yami passed by, shouting, "We'll meet up with them at the emergency pod, but we gotta move now!" Otogi looked as though he was about to argue but Honda's voice could be heard over the walkie-talkie urging him to do as Heba was saying, before he clenched his teeth and allowed Yami and Heba to lead him away from the bridge. It was a mad dash towards the emergency escape pod but they wound up finding Rebecca on her way there herself. Otogi was desperate in his searching for Honda as they neared the escape pod and Heba let him go so he, Yami, and Rebecca could board it. Otogi refused to get onboard though, and remained outside as he urgently spoke to his lover.

Mai, seriously pissed off that Otogi seemed to be taking his own sweet time, shouted at him just as Honda and Jou appeared around the corner, Jou with someone hoisted over his shoulder, "**Move it people! Sometime today would be nice!**" They were sprinting down the catwalk and Otogi and Honda reached for each other at the same moment as they pulled the other into the escape pod, to safety, Jou only a step behind them. Mai closed up the escape pod hatch behind her as she took up residence in the pilot seat, Keith already firing up controls in the copilot seat.

Everyone was already buckling in, Yami assisting Heba since his hands were shaking too much in his adrenaline rush. Jou had hoisted the person off of his shoulder to show a teenage girl with long auburn hair, a sweet face that was now pale and tight with fear, wearing a pair of light pink pajamas and a white bandage wound across her eyes; she refused to let go of her grip on Jou's sleeve as he buckled her in and them sat down to buckle himself in next to her, his hand automatically going to her grip to hold her hand in comfort. Blood was rushing in everyone's ears and if he said anything to her they couldn't hear it; they could only barely hear the shouted frustration of Mai as she tried to open the bay doors but the lever was stuck. She threw all of her weight against it, barely causing it to budge, as Keith shouted at her in urgent desperation, "**Lieutenant, get us out of here!**"

Mai shouted angrily back, her eyes flashing with fear, "**I'm working on it!**" Outside, the Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth noticed that the submarine was no longer moving and charged up its lightning for one more attack to ensure its demise. Mai leaned back in her seat and kicked the lever, giving it just that extra amount of leverage, and the lever folded downwards; the bay doors gave a popping sound as they released outwards and Mai felt a moment of triumph as she ejected the escape pod from the hangar bay, along with several other escape pods, and shouted behind her to her passengers, "**Hang on!**" She safely piloted the escape pod away just in time, as the lightning attack fired through the submarine, causing the thing to break in half; but the Leviathan swam through its debris, intent upon chasing the now fleeing targets.

The battle pods covered the escape pods as they all swam together, seeking safety, and a sudden piece of debris from the exploded submarine hit their escape pod; Mai managed to straighten the escape pod out, but everyone inside was jarred in their seats as they felt something hit the hull of the escape pod. Heba winced as he felt his head whip back into place in an awful burn of whip-lash. He didn't have long to focus on the pain as Keith shouted a question to him, "**Where to, Mr. Mutou?**"

Heba shook himself out of his stupor under the worried but watchful eyes of his twin and opened his Journal, looking for the passage about the information he needed to know; he already knew the answer, but his mind was taking a little while longer focusing on the answer and the flipping of pages gave him s tangible process that helped speed his brain up. He replied nervously, still flipping pages, "**We're looking for a big crevice of some kind.**"

Keith frantically searched through the glass looking for a crevice; and there it was, a giant deep-sea trench in the bottom of the ocean-floor fairly close by. He shouted in triumph, pointing in that direction for Mai's benefit, "**There!** **Up ahead!**"

Mai piloted the pod, jubilant at the sight of the proverbial life-line, and shouted behind her, "**Hang on!**" She then picked up the transceiver and called on the common radio frequency, "**All crafts, make your mark at twenty-degrees down-angle!**"

Sounds of affirmation could be heard from the other crafts and many repeated the orders for physical confirmation. The crew behind Keith and Mai sighed a short sigh of relief as they heard the unmistakable cackle of Malik respond, "**We're right behind you!**"

The Leviathan was beyond pissed off as it chased the little vessels that had caused it so much pain, and in a sudden vicious flip of a fin it flattened a battle pod into the seafloor below it causing the little piece of machinery to explode. The debris from the sudden explosion hit the battle pod that held Bakura and Malik, boosting them forward from the explosions momentum, but also causing hull damage and a single large crack to spread across their windshield. Malik went into a fit of Egyptian curses while he tried to maneuver out of the cloud of debris; Bakura right next to him let out an angry, "**We're hit! This stupid, motherfucking, cocksucking piece of dried-up sushi actually managed to hit my fuckin' sub pod! Are you fucking kidding me?!**" Could be heard over the radio frequency; their friends exchanged glances of concern but figured that if Bakura was still cursing out insults then neither he nor Malik were hurt.

Another battle pod was also hit by the debris and a masculine voice shouted out in desperation, "**We're getting killed out here!**" Keith didn't reply, there was nothing he could do; and really if there was, he wouldn't have bothered in his pursuit of preserving his own life.

The crevice was looming forward and many sighed a breath of relief as they squeezed inside, positive that the creature wouldn't be able to follow them and that they were safe; which caused many to pale as an unforgiving and determined Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth burst through several layers of rock to chase after them, before hitting the much more solid bedrock of the ocean-floor causing it to stop abruptly. It let out a screech of fury at its preys' escape and in a last-ditch effort to destroy as many of them that it could, it fired off a lightning bolt that Malik and an emergency pod barely managed avoid before it hit a different battle pod in front of them. That one exploded and another battle pod was taken out from chunks of debris giving Malik a hell of a time maneuvering through both debris storms. More cracks spread through their windshield that Bakura watched with growing alarm as tiny bits of outside debris pummeled their hull. One of the five emergency escape pods was rear ended by a piece of propelled debris causing it to spin out of control and crash into the rock tunnel in an explosion of lights.

Heba in his panic had begun to hyperventilate and Yami tried to joke with him to relieve some of his brother's tension, "Come on Heba, it's ok! It's only like the grease trap inside a sink!" Yami tried to joke by alluding to their bumpy ride, as though they didn't have a giant creature trying to kill them behind them, and that the ride was why Heba was so terrified.

Heba gratefully took the opening his brother was giving him and chanted in barely-contained panic, "It's only a grease trap just like a sink, It's only a grease trap just like a sink, It's only a grease trap just like a _sink_!" Heba screeched out the last part in a mixture of nerves, and shock from the emergency pod's sudden swooping motion as it arrowed upwards, to the safety of an air pocket. The sudden movement jarred everyone else as well; so much so, that Honda's medical bag opened and Yami, being the unfortunate one to sit next to him, had his leg impaled by a scalpel that flew out of his bag. Yami cried out in surprised pain as a scalpel sunk into the back of his leg and he unthinkingly jerked his injured leg in pain, causing the handle of the scalpel to hit the wall and scrape across more of his leg before sinking even deeper into his badly bleeding leg. Honda shouted curses as he realized what had happened but his safety harness stopped him when he went to help; and then everyone was leaning in the back of their seats from the forward momentum of the pod rapidly ascending towards the air pocket, much like when you're gaining altitude on a rollercoaster ride.

They each felt a sudden weightlessness as they broke the surface, before they crashed back into their seats; the force sent Yami's leg backwards to hit the wall again and he almost passed out from the pain of it. Everyone in the back had noticed Yami's injury and were slightly panicked, especially Heba who cried out at the sight of his twin bleeding; and as soon as Honda had affirmed that they were safe he was out of his seat and pulled out a flashlight so that he could see the damage. He cursed as he saw the deep-pink of muscle showing through the copious amounts of blood. Rebecca made a faint noise of distress before she fainted at the horrendous sight and poor Heba went so pale, he could have been easily mistaken for a ghost as his amethyst eyes opened impossibly wide; but he bravely swallowed his terror and put on a determined face for his brother, he absolutely refused to pass out when Yami was the one in pain and he was still conscious. Yami gritted his teeth and panted through his nose as white-hot agony lanced up his right leg, the veins in his throat stuck out from the pressure of his teeth gnashing together with such force. He had been injured before and when he saw the damage done to his leg he was greatly relieved; it only felt worse than the actual damage was. Honda immediately went to work trying to stop the blood flow, very glad to see that none of Yami's arteries had been sliced, while Otogi acted as his nurse, automatically so synced with his lover that he knew what was needed before Honda even had to open his mouth. Jou simply held the blindfolded girl's hand as he whispered soothing words to her, as Heba held his own brother's hand and looked into his eyes, trying to look reassuring. Yami was grateful to his brother for the effort but he was more concerned that Heba was about to pass out; more worried for his younger twin than himself, Yami mustered a slight smile of encouragement for his brother that suddenly dissolved into a mask of pain when Honda pulled out the scalpel. Yami made a slight groaning noise deep in his throat in frustration and Heba had unshed tears in his eyes at the sight of his twins' pain. Crimson eyes were narrowed in pain but he locked his jaw as he refused to cry out from the pain. Honda got to work stitching him up and Yami just focused on Heba as his lifeline to keep from passing out.

Keith and Mai, who had not noticed Yami's predicament, had climbed up the hatch as soon as they had hit the surface. All the other pods, whether they were emergency escape pods or battle pods, also popped their hatches to get a look at where they were. Inky blackness surrounded them, penetrated only by the dim headlights of the underwater pods, and several crew members brought out their own personal flashlights to scan their surroundings. Flashlights swept upwards to reveal a rocky cave that arched several stories above them, teeming with sharply-pointed stalagmites and stalactites. From the direction of where they emerged was a stone wall, while before them lay a decrepit docking port; crumbling statues, that had once been made up of brightly-polished marble, were tilted forlornly and partially submerged by the water. Shallowly-built stone steps seemed to emerge from the water (or were most likely covered by the higher water level) and led towards a demolished building, what its' purpose was they could not even begin to decipher. The steps led higher, towards a gaping maw that was a carved mouth of some form of ancient creature, too moss-covered to even try to guess what it was, where the path continued through and beyond its' mouth. Ancient symbols, very similar to those found in Heba's Journal, had been carved lovingly and with great patience into the ancient buildings that now lay crumpled inwards.

All the boats were piloted to the docks and everyone boarded off the pods; even the injured Yami, who Honda and Otogi had lifted out of the pod to reach land. Keith, after taking a head count and discovering who was injured, set everyone, except Yami, to unpacking the supplies off the emergency escape pods; everyone's personal equipment had already been loaded into them, for just such occasions, before they set off on their underwater journey. Keith seemed to do a double-take when he saw the blindfolded nightgown-clad girl that was holding the hand of a white-faced Jou and asked, "**Who in the hell is that?**" Jou didn't answer at first, he didn't know what to say, and instead gripped the girls' hand tighter as he seemed to search for the words that would get them in the least amount of trouble.

Bakura and Malik had wandered over to their friends and when they noticed the auburn-haired girl their eyes widened as they both shouted, "Shizuka!"

The blindfolded girl turned her head towards their voices and a sweetly happy smile broke over her face as she recognized two of her older brothers' friends' voices, and cried out happily, "Malik! Bakura!" Her voice was that of an angel and just as sweet as her smile; everyone within hearing distance automatically turned to look at the speaker of the beautiful voice in curiosity. Malik glomped her in happiness and even Bakura seemed to soften towards the sweet-natured girl, evidenced when he gently ruffled her head in affection; they had both met Jou's younger sister and they were just as protective of her as Jou, Honda, and Otogi were. Nobody could meet Shizuka and not adore her, it was just impossible; something her and her brother shared in common.

Jou cleared his throat nervously as he began, "**Well, ya see Keith, I-.**"

"**It was **_**my **_**fault sir! I was the one who stowed away on board the ship, it isn't Onii-chan's **(older brother)** fault!**" Shizuka interrupted, honestly distressed at the thought of her beloved older brother getting in trouble because of her. Her blindfold kept her from seeing the looks of surprise on the other people's faces as she foraged on, "**You see, Onii-chan said that he got a new job as a cook but that it would take him away from me, and I just didn't want him to leave me alone at the hospital; so I asked one of the nurses to take me over to his house, where I found all of his storage containers and crates already packed for his trip and I hid myself in one so that I could come along on his trip with him! Please don't punish Onii-chan for something that **_**I **_**did! He honestly didn't even know that I was hiding; it wasn't until I called him with my cell phone on speed-dial that he even knew I was on the ship, so please don't punish him for this! Punish me instead-!" **Shizuka was suddenly silenced as Jou put a hand over his baby sisters' mouth, stunned at her words, but afraid for her.

Jou turned towards Keith and begged, even though it hurt his pride to beg to the low-life, "**It's ma fault dat I didn't properly check my containers, so if anyone's ta blame it should be me. So please don't punish ma little sista fer dis.**" Oh, how it hurt his pride to lower his head to the smirking bastard when he would much rather punch his teeth in, but for his sister Jou would do anything. Shizuka struggled in her brother's arms, trying to focus the blame on herself, but Jou just passed her into the protective custody of Honda's still-bloody arms, while Otogi, Malik, and Bakura all closed ranks on her to protect her from Keith's eyes.

Keith had contemplated making a big deal out of the situation so that he could get back at the big blonde that seemed to hold so much contempt and disregard his orders, not to mention he could have a nice little bed-slave in the innocently gorgeous young girl for the rest of the trip, but after he saw the way the four toughest fighters of his entire crew moved in to protect her, he reevaluated his previous plan; so instead, he merely posted on a fake smile and jovially told them that there was no harm done and that there was nothing anyone could do now that she was there, while inwardly he seethed inside. None of her protectors believed him except naïve Shizuka who smiled beatifically in great relief at Keith's supposed kindness and thanked him profusely. Jou, Honda, and Otogi had to choke back scowls at her heartfelt gratitude to the slimy man, while Malik and Bakura didn't even bother to hide their displeasure. Shizuka wasn't able to see their expressions and Keith just ignored them as he chuckled to himself at the twit's naivety; he secretly hoped for a later chance to somehow get the auburn-haired girl alone, he did so love the innocent ones. Smirking inwardly at the thought, Keith wandered off to evaluate what it was they had of their remaining supplies.

The damp cave caused Shizuka, clad only in her pink pajamas, to shiver in sudden cold; Honda shrugged out of his medical jacket and gave it for her to wear, glad that she couldn't see the bloodstains. Otogi, with only a sleeveless vest and t-shirt as his normal ensemble, was used to cold places and didn't even seem to feel the dank surroundings; Jou was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved green shirt so he was suitably warm; as was Honda in his normal outfit of black jeans and tan long-sleeved, trench-coat-styled over-shirt with a white t-shirt underneath. Bakura and Malik however, were not dressed for warmth; Bakura was dressed in a blue and white striped t-shirt with white pants; while Malik was dressed in his white khaki pants and a sleeveless purple midriff top overlaid by a sleeveless leather midriff vest; both cursed as the cold began seeping into their bones, especially Malik who was a native-born Egyptian and was more acclimated for hotter-than-normal weather.

Yami and the unconscious Rebecca were laid out near the largest campfire, the first thing Keith had done was order for more light and there were plenty of large fire pits, while Heba watched over his brother; Jou escorted his little sister Shizuka over to them since she couldn't see to help with the unloading and Jou needed someone to help watch her. Yami was still conscious and awake to be introduced to Shizuka but had been given orders by Honda to not move his leg at all; the bleeding had stopped and he was all sewed up but Honda said that one of his muscles had been sliced, but he said that if Yami didn't aggravate his leg then it should heal well enough that he wouldn't even limp. The only problem was that if he moved it around too much, the muscle had a chance of tearing even further which could cause him to be permanently crippled in the right leg; to say Yami wasn't taking any chances was an understatement of very high proportions. So he was staying in his spot while his brother watched over him, Heba having seemed to get over his shock and was slowly coming down from his adrenaline rush. The two brothers chatted together with the cheerful girl for a good fifteen minutes, Heba mostly making jokes to keep their minds occupied, when Rebecca finally regained consciousness. After her initial panic, she calmed down relatively quickly and was coherent enough to be introduce to Shizuka, but was then off like a shot when Heba mentioned that the rest of the crew was unloading the pods of their supplies; Rebecca muttering angrily about people touching her personalized equipment without her permission. The three were then left alone to talk amongst themselves each enjoying each other's company.

Malik was ecstatic to find that his drill had been loaded onto one of the surviving escape pods, and he spent a long time just caressing it lovingly as he spoke to it like it was a lover or pet; everyone just ignored him and his strange eccentricities. Everyone was greatly relieved when Jou's hummer truck was recovered, since it held everyone's food supply, and Jou grinned widely when it was found; he had packed all his personal belongings in his own truck placing an all-or-nothing gamble on it, but he had always had the stupidest of luck and he thanked the gods for his luck now. Only seven other vehicles survived the trip; two of them jeeps, another truck, three supply wagons, and a large monstrosity of a vehicle that seemed like a tank that none in the group knew what it was for. Everyone else on the crew seemed to however, and had no inclination to speak about what was inside.

The only things left to be unloaded were personal crates of belongings, some of the crew having their own belongings on one of the other pods that were destroyed went without finding their belongings, while other crates of belongings were unpacked only to discover that their owner was dead; there were a lot of those crates. So, first pickings for clothes and supplies were given amongst those that had lost their own belongings while everyone else got whatever was left over and thought to be needed. Bakura and Malik found their own crates with great delight and pulled out their jackets to keep themselves warm; they had also gone back for their personal belongings in their bunkrooms while on their way towards the battle pods before the fight broke out. Honda and Otogi both found only half of their crates; luckily though they had wisely packed all of their crates with one half of each others' belongings to minimize their chances of losing all their belongings in just such an occasion. Rebecca had lost all of her personal belongings except for her important mementoes that she had in a backpack she brought along with her to the emergency pod; but all of her clothes, tools, and computerized equipment had sunk, and she cried as she made her way back to Yami, Heba, and Shizuka. She did get first pick of the leftover mechanical tools and she even found someone whose clothes she could somewhat fit into; Yami would have offered her some of his own clothes, all of his and Heba's belongings had been found, but his clothes ran more towards tight leather; he needn't have worried though, since Heba, who was closer in stature to her anyway, generously offered her some of his own clothes that, while a little baggy, were much more comfortable since he had packed his expedition clothes. Shizuka, not having brought any clothes at all, was considered to be among those that had lost their belongings and was allowed to pick out clothes from the deads' belongings; luckily, a female technician had a very similar build to Shizuka and she was given all of her clothes. Whatever was left over from the dead's pile of belongings that went unclaimed were to be left behind; and as everyone watched as the pile became increasingly larger, the evidence of how many people lost their lives began to seep into their consciousness with the bitter pall of sorrow for those that were lost.

Somberness clung to the air as everyone became aware of how few survivors there actually were. Conversations quieted out of respect for the dead and those that were alive took a moment to thank whatever deity they had that they were still amongst the living; Honda, Otogi, Jou, Yami, and Heba were especially thankful to the gods that their loved ones had survived, knowing a moments terror as they realized just how easily it could have been their sibling or lover that had died. Shizuka, never having known the full extent of the damage done or the full danger that they had been in, was only happy that her brother wasn't in any trouble; although she subconsciously picked up on the air of grimness and wasn't as cheerful, she was too dense in self-awareness to understand why it was that she didn't laugh as often as she normally would have, and just chalked it up to the fact that she was concerned for the confident-toned man who had been severely injured. Keith decided that it was about time to move on but knew that the crew would need something to give them a confidence boost and help them move on. So, he gathered everyone around in a ceremony and had the doctor light a small candle in a dead soldier's metal helmet to be set out over the water in a funerary tribute.

Everyone bowed their heads in sorrow for those lost as Keith began his eulogy, greatly irritated at the delay but hiding it behind a mask of grim stoicism, and with a faked, deep sigh of sorrow and tiredness stated, "**Seven hours ago we started this expedition with over two hundred of the finest young men and women I've ever known. We're all that's left. I won't sugarcoat it gentlemen, we have a crisis on our hands; but we've been up this creek before and we've always come through, paddle or no paddle, and I see no reason to change that policy now.**" Here Keith looked around seeing the somber but determined faces of the crew; even if the group (As in Heba and Yami's group) looked as though they didn't trust him, which was hardly new, but they were there for respect of the dead, not out of respect for Keith, so they kept their thoughts and opinions to themselves, even Bakura which was perhaps the most surprising. Keith barely paused to take a breath as he continued by giving out orders, "**From here on in, with the exception of those with obvious medical conditions, everyone pulls double duty; everyone drives, everyone works.**" Deciding to give everyone a focal point in the case of something bad happening, he decided that he needed a scapegoat that everyone could put all of their blames and frustrations on instead of him as the obvious leadership target, and slyly imputed the perfect scapegoat into his speech by pointing him out, "**I guess all of our chances of survival rest with you Mr. Heba Mutou. You and that little book.**" He pointed towards the amethyst-eyed young man who glanced down at the Journal in his lap, feeling the responsibility of their very survival come to a heavy roost on his frail shoulders; but he squared his tanned shoulders, determined that he would do his best and not let them down.

The eulogy over, with those ominous sounding words, Otogi turned to Honda and whispered, "What do you think **Okaa-san **(mother) would have to say about this situation?"

Honda barely paused as a tiny grin lit his face and he whispered back in a dry impersonation, "We're all gonna die." Both of them grinned about their overly pessimistic mother and rolled their eyes before heading over to Jou and his hummer.

Keith began shouting orders for everyone to start moving out and Heba made his way towards the open-aired truck that was at the head of the vehicle convoy, while Yami laid comfortably in back amongst the bags of personal belongings; hauling personal belongings was the trucks' only purpose. Keith turned to address Heba as he skeptically asked, "**Are you sure that you're checked out on this type of vehicle?**" Heba looked at him in confusion for a moment before his face dissolved in insulted affront; Keith pretended that Heba was still confused and asked him in condescension, "**Can you drive a truck?**" He asked this while pointing behind him as though Heba was an idiot and couldn't tell what the vehicle was. I

Heba, highly offended, glared at him as he responded stiffly, "**Of course I know how to drive a truck.**" To indicate his competence he hopped into the driver's seat and started the truck, causing Keith to walk away in disappointment. A few minutes later though, as the truck didn't move and people began honking horns at him, even Malik pulled the steam whistle from his drill in impatience to be off, but still the truck didn't move. Keith was about to get out of his jeep to berate Heba himself, but Honda got out of Jou's hummer to offer some assistance. When he reached the truck though, he almost fell over in laughter, but he refrained with a hastily cut-off choke of amusement as he spent a moment to get his laughter under control. When he felt that he wouldn't offend his little friend with his monumentally held-back mirth, he addressed Heba softly, since he was afraid that if he talked any louder he would begin laughing, "Need some help?" He somehow managed to keep the amusement from his tone and the question came out as purely curious and helpful.

Poor Heba was sitting in the driver's seat, embarrassment-red face stony as he stared out the windshield with a clenched jaw, his feet dangling off the edge of his seat; he was too short to reach the pedals if he sat down and the truck itself was an older model with seats that didn't adjust. His pride severely bruised, he allowed Honda to seat himself in the driver's seat and drive the truck up the path; he was just glad that Yami had fallen asleep in the backseat so that he couldn't witness his brother's humiliation.

* * *

Several hundreds of miles away

In the quietness of the city's night, six individuals awoke from their sleeps as they each felt a strange lightness in their chests. They could not have described what it was exactly that had awoken them, but they could feel in their very bones that something was going to happen, something monumental, and soon.

Charcoal-gray eyes looked out from a mop of sleep-tousled black hair as the owner jumped out of bed to find his way to a long-familiar study, knowing that he would find someone there even at this time of night. Looking into the study, the figure saw a familiar-looking shadow, that had fallen asleep at the desk drowning in papers, that had also woken up at the feeling in his chest; the figure in the doorway moved towards the sitting figure that turned to look at him with sapphire-blue eyes, wishing to share with someone the feeling that had awoken him; he was surprised to learn that the seated figure had also been awoken by the unfamiliar feeling. They both agreed to discuss it with the council tomorrow morning.

Insanely demented royal-purple eyes opened, angry at having been woken up by something, not even caring that the unfamiliar feeling slowly warmed his black-tainted soul. Flaring his senses to find the cause of his awakening he determined that it was too far away to reach within the next few minutes, so with an irritated hiss of resentment, he pulled his fur blanket over his head and went back to sleep, deciding that he would kill whatever it was in the morning.

Soft, chocolate-brown eyes opened kittenishly to regard the dark bedchamber, trying to pinpoint just what exactly the feeling that was warming him to the core of his bones was. Stretching languorously, the owner of the chocolaty eyes ran through his mind what the possible causes could be; listing everything from medical problems, to magical spells, to mental and emotional causes. Finding several possibilities from each category, he decided that it wasn't bothering him so overly much that he needed to find the answer right away. He smiled sleepily as he decided that he rather liked the feeling; he hadn't felt this warm and protected in a very long time. Opening himself to more of the warm feeling, he pulled it closer to his heart and went back to sleep, promising himself that he would look up the more exclusive details from all his possible causes from the Known Archives in the morning.

Ruby-red eyes opened in puzzlement at the warm feeling emanating from his chest. Scanning the room alertly for any sign of attack, the owner of the vibrant red eyes flicked his eyes to the silent wardings on the four corners of his bedposts; no color glowed from the implanted magical symbols, indicating that no magical spell was being directed at him as he slept. Rubbing a hand over his naked chest, he tried to make the warm sensation disperse; to no effect. Sighing, he deduced that he was not in any danger and decided that the warming sensation was actually very pleasant. Smirking, he got up from his bed and walked over to sit down on his lushly decorated window seat; the warmth in his chest reminded him of a long-ago memory of greeting Ra, and he decided that he was going to be awakened in a few hours anyway, and that he might as well reminisce about that far-off dream. Perhaps if he tried hard enough, he could pretend that the feeling in his chest was the light of Ra warming his skin. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the stone pillar with a smile on his face while he pulled out a small handkerchief of old silk and rubbed it lovingly between his fingers as he waited for morning to come.

Innocent amethyst-colored eyes blinked open blearily, scanning the room in confusion, unsure why he was awake when he had to get up early in the morning to go hunting. Unfocused purple eyes looked around sleepily, trying to discover what time it was, and groaned in annoyed frustration when he discovered that he still had four more hours to sleep. Deciding that the warm feeling in his chest could wait until morning, he pulled his blanket over him and was asleep instantly.

* * *

**Hooray, we're finally on the road to Atlantis! From now on, I have decided that 'the crew' will describe Mai and Keith and the surviving crew on their side; while 'the group' will be the characters you know and love.**

**Hi all! I finished the last chapter at a cliffhanger and I could not freakin' stop! It was ridiculous; I had school the next morning and I was up until midnight trying to finish the battle scene! Luckily for me, my chorus teacher was focusing on the first-years there and I, as a fourth year, was allowed to go on my laptop for the whole hour-long class, Yippee! ^_^**

**I just had to finish this freakin' chapter, it was number one on my mental list all day. Geez, no life much? Oh well, It's a good thing I enjoy doing this.**

**Anyway, thank you to all my viewers and reviewers for your support and patience with the damn cliffhanger! Sorry to any that might feel that this chapter was a little shorter than the other chapters; you would be right, but it's not by that much.**

**I liked getting to add in the Mrs. Packers' quote from her two adopted sons; her pessimism always made me laugh. XD**

**I contemplated adding Shizuka into the main story-line but then I had an idea for her that required her to actually be in Atlantis, so I thought "To hell with it!" and I just added her in anyway; besides, I like making Keith out to be a jackass XD!**

**I knew from the start that I was going to have Yami be injured throughout the actual expedition part of the story-line; that's where Heba and Milo are supposed to show their character parallels and Milo doesn't exactly have an older brother to rely on, plus that's excellent character development possibilities right there.**

**Nobody was the main perspective character for this chapter and I chose that since it would be too much of a hassle to keep switching back and forth between the different characters during a battle scene; it was too hectic.**

**I am so glad that I finally got to add in the rest of my main characters, even if it's just a peek; but as I was writing the last section, I could really feel the different personas of each of the characters, and that made me really happy ^0^ !**


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I, FallTigerKisa, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Neither it's characters, themes, nor plots (no matter how much I would have loved to make it into a yaoi). Nor do I, FallTigerKisa, own Atlantis The Lost Empire.

Please Note: THIS IS RATED M FOR A REASON! Filled with juicy yaoi and hentai goodness and enough lemons to make a roomful of fangirls sigh in bliss (or at least enough to make me satisfied without destroying the plot). Painings:YxYY, AtemuxHeba, SetoxJou, BxR, MxYM, and slight HxO, DMxDMG, SethxKisara, and MokubaxShizuka.

I have since decided that all dialogue will be in Japanese but automatically translated in English, but when the conversations are in English the words will be in English in all "**Bold**", with none of the translated word in parenthesis of course. However, a word written in "**Bold" **with the English translation in (Parenthesis) is in a different language. ~_Italicized~ _with little squiggly lines are mind-to-mind conversations. And to really mess with you all I might just put them both together in which they are mind-to-mind in a different language. I assume you all do not need an example. I'm also adding _Italicized_ as regular thoughts.

This does not include bashing of any kind, I have a high respect for all Yu-Gi-Oh characters (except Bandit Keith A.K.A Rourke) and I based their Atlantis counterparts off of strange connections I made up in my own twisted mind, so please do not get offended if an otherwise good Yu-Gi-Oh character is given a weird Atlantis counterpart, and vice versa.

Also, the perspective will change between characters and I will have their ~~**_Name_**~~ in bold italics between four squiggly lines in the middle of the page. This is in third-person but the perspective will change; the story will follow that person and his/her adventures but still in third-person.

From now on, I have decided that 'the crew' will describe Mai and Keith and the surviving crew on their side; while 'the group' will be the characters you know and love.

WARNING: Every chapter from here on out has offensive language; thank you Yami Bakura.

Please Review! I take all comments; positive or negative, UNLESS they have to do with the yaoi, homosexual thing, in which I have only to say "DON"T LIKE, DON'T READ!" Can't get any simpler than that.

* * *

Ancient Highway to Atlantis, Several Miles under the Atlantic Ocean-Floor

**_~~Heba Mutou~~_**

Headlights from the vehicle convoy illuminated the cavernous path, rough rock arched in a high stalactite-encrusted ceiling as the convoy moved over the gently sloping cobblestoned path. Those driving the vehicles were very surprised at the smooth ride, considering that the path hadn't been tread upon for several centuries it was in very good condition; but then they shrugged it off as excellent workmanship. Rock formations marbled with glittering quartz that hadn't been seen by sentient beings in thousands of years were silently appreciated by the passing convoy on the ancient highway; Malik especially, sighed over the beautiful sights of the masterpieces formed from millions of year's worth of natural moisture and pressurization. The sound of dripping water was a barely heard background noise that was drowned out by the constant rumbles coming from the vehicles and human voices that chatted between them.

The old-fashioned truck at the head of the convoy contained the personal belongings of the surviving forty-eight crewmen of the expedition, plus one stowaway, and three people resided inside. Yami, having been given pain medications for his badly injured leg, was sprawled out in the back seat in a drug-induced sleep. Honda was driving the truck, one hand wrapped around a walkie-talkie so he could converse with his lover, Otogi, who was riding in the black hummer truck, a few vehicles back, with their blonde friend Jou and Jou's stowaway little sister, Shizuka. Heba sat in the passenger seat as he silently translated from his Journal, reading the strange symbols to gain the books' knowledge on where it was they were going; the next landmark that Heba had already gleaned from the Journal was quite a ways ahead of them, so Heba allowed himself to read more of the history section instead of the 'entrance to Atlantis' section that he was supposed to be reading. Heba had already gotten over his embarrassment of not being able to drive the truck due to his short stature.

They had already been traveling for a good five hours along the path, and mostly everyone was bored. The rest of the crew were all used to expeditions with long voyages that were spent in monotonous boredom, so they had brought things along with them to occupy their minds; the group of newcomers though, had never been on a expedition before, except Yami but he was sleeping, and they had nothing to occupy themselves with, except Heba with his books. Rebecca, riding unhappily in the jeep with Keith and Mai, once again felt a pang of regret for her lost belongings; she would have had something to tinker with or blueprints to draw from her multitude of projects, instead of listening to Keith stroke his own ego and Mai talk about her vast array of clothes, make-up, cars, jewelry, perfumes, and the like.

Malik, driving his highly-technological drill, was bugging Bakura, so much so that the white-haired man was seriously contemplating murdering his best friend, with his constant whining of needing to be entertained; he had grown tired of the rock formations half an hour ago. The white haired man was glaring out the windshield as his already short-fused temper began to seriously fray; Malik knew he was being annoying but he needed constant stimulation for his short attention span.

Jou and Otogi were happily chatting with Honda through the walkie-talkie as they drove along; although, Jou couldn't help but feel a little sad that his I-POD had died from its' staying on during the long journey while going uncharged. He sent glances towards his little sister in the back seat every now and then, making sure that he and Otogi didn't wake her up with their constant chatter. Shizuka, having a failing eyesight that grew worse with time, couldn't see the rock formations outside and was too naïve to keep up with her Onii-chan and his friend's conversation; which left her not much else to do but take a nap.

Honda, at the front of the line, suddenly gasped in awe as he saw the new additions to the path in front of him and Heba looked up at the noise as amethyst-colored eyes went wide. Monumentally huge, intricately carved pillars, appearing rather Doric in style, seemed to emerge from the rock walls from floor to highly arched ceiling; the big-bellied pillars had been carved out of the surrounding stone itself, making those who passed by feel as though they were entering the Parthenon, or maybe even a Grecian-styled museum. A few of the pillars had crumbled, but that was to be expected; most were surprised that, like the well-paved roads, they were still in such good condition that they were still standing. The pillars abruptly ended on one side of the path as the cavernous path suddenly opened up into a multi-storied room. After they passed the opening to get into the room, the path widened considerably to show a room with a narrow pathway where the road continued on, where it would spiral upwards into narrow trails up the actual cliff-side to reach the opening at the top where the path continued onwards.

Everyone was cautious in their driving while going up the cliff trails, since they were rather narrow; but they needn't have bothered since, unbeknownst to them, magical spells were infused into the cobblestones themselves' to keep from wearing away due to time and keep any vehicle on their stones from slipping or from wandering off of their designated path. Each vehicle was ordered to go only one at a time, to ensure that the cliff-side didn't crumble beneath the weight; a jeep was sent up first, to make sure it was stable, which it was. After it made it to the top, Keith ordered the original convoy order to ascend; Heba was on the side looking down the face of the cliff and he felt afraid from the large height, especially since the truck was open-aired, much like a golf-cart, and didn't have seatbelts or side rail safety features. He was very, _very _relieved when they made it out to the top, and he got out of the truck to sit against the stone wall; closing his eyes to feel the solid structure at his back and get rid of the awful feeling of hanging over the side of the cliff and that he was about to fall off.

When all of the vehicles made it through the cliff path, they decided to take a break for lunch; Jou fired up his portable stovetops and made several large pots of French onion soup, the soup itself would be welcome to those that were feeling sick from the heights, while the cheese and saturated bread at the bottom would be well received as their stomachs settled; he made ten large pots worth with each pot being distributed for every five person grouping. Each person got a bowl to serve themselves from their pot as groupings automatically congregated together. Keith and Mai sat with their three highest-ranking military personnel to share a pot with; Mai complaining all the way about having to eat out of the same pot with other people. The group had already woken up Yami and Shizuka for the meal and the nine of them all gathered around the campfire to eat from their two pots and chat together, just enjoying being in each other's company; they had all become friends, even if Bakura was a little remote from Otogi and Rebecca and vice-versa, and they had all decided that the group was with whom they all wanted too be with.

They ate in relative silence, relatively from the smattering of jokes and resulting laughter, as they enjoyed Jou's cooking creation. Yami, Heba, and Rebecca were all surprised at the delicious assault on their taste buds and complimented Jou whole-heartedly on his soup, they had never tasted better soup, which was saying something from Yami considering how extensive his traveling was; he told Jou this with such utter seriousness that Jou knew it was the truth and not some biased compliment, and he beamed in pleasure at the high praise. Honda, Otogi, and Shizuka were all used to his cooking so they weren't as gushing in their praise, but Jou could see their honest enjoyment of his food in their eyes; meanwhile, Malik and Bakura, who had both sampled his food as teenagers before they left the country, were shoveling as much of the much missed food into their mouths as they could, slightly disgusting Heba and Rebecca with their poor table manners. Heba sat off to one side the entire time, his nose constantly in the Journal in wide-eyed fascination, as he ate; he barely glanced up at all from any of the groups doings.

Jokes and laughter was shared easily amongst the group and when it became time for lunch to an end, most in the group to groaned at the impending boredom; to which Yami generously offered some of his carry-on games for them to play, even Shizuka got a textured puzzle that Yami had found intriguing since the rule was to solve it without looking anyway. He was proclaimed a lifesaver among the group and Jou prostrated the ground in front of him in his play worshipping, to which Yami played along by folding his arms over his chest and nodded to the bowing man regally; sending Heba, Rebecca, Malik, and Shizuka into a fit of giggles and snickers at their antics. Rebecca, now equipped with a book of intellectual riddles, dreaded her impending car-companions and complained about having to ride in the same car as Keith and Mai; while Bakura, now armed with a DS and the game Portal, irritably bitched about having to be in the same vehicle with Malik. The two looked at each other as they reached a silent truce in their rocky relationship; they then nodded to each other in silent agreement and shouted in unison, "SWITCH!" Rebecca ran towards Malik's drill and Bakura sprinted towards Keith and Mai's jeep, completely ignoring Malik's expression of surprised offense.

Malik yelled at his best friend in mock betrayal, "TRAITOR!" The rest of the group merely laughed at the disgruntled Egyptian and so, with a final huff towards Bakura's retreating back, Malik turned back towards his bag, the one that he refused to be parted with, and hoisted it over his shoulder while metal-sounding "_chings_"emanated from it. Yami and Heba looked at it in curiosity but no one else commented on it as Malik turned toward his drill and climbed aboard. Jou escorted Shizuka to the hummer while Yami and Heba waited patiently for Otogi and Honda to finish with their embrace, so that Honda could help Yami get up from his sitting position; the two shared a loving kiss before pulling apart, Otogi heading towards the hummer, and Honda assisted Yami to his one foot as the three walked slowly towards the truck, while Yami and Heba caught Honda and Otogi sharing backwards glances with each other. They got Yami comfortable and climbed into the front seats of the truck to continue on their journey.

Hours passed as they continued their journey, the path always continuing before them with no other directional choices, filled with a few interesting obstacles. The first was a raised winding path with stalagmite-filled trenches on either side of the road; were they to have slipped, they would have been impaled be the sharp stones, so everyone was _very _careful to navigate properly through the winding path. The second obstacle was of a broken slope; they would have normally gone down the slope to continue the path at the bottom, but the stonework had crumbled leaving them to use cables to drop the vehicles down; Malik's drill and the monstrosity-thing were the hardest to rappel down. One unlucky crew member fell from their vehicle as it was being lowered down; but they only fell about six feet and only suffered a twisted arm, which Honda bound in a sling.

* * *

**_~~Bakura~~_**

The third obstacle was the landmark that Heba had been waiting for, since this landmark split off in either direction. The path split into two directions, each one flowing together to meet at the 'eyes' of a carved skull, the path going on through its 'eyes'. Keith called for a stretch break as the cars parked at the crossroads intersection. Everyone got out of their vehicles, except for Yami who was sleeping once again from the pain medications, to stretch their legs and admire the skull carving from afar. Heba stayed behind with his brother while he kept on reading with his nose still in his Journal. The group congregated around Malik's drill as Malik and Rebecca climbed down with self-satisfied smiles on their faces, while Bakura strode towards them all with a much more relaxed demeanor than the last time they saw him. Jou raised an eyebrow at them and teasingly asked, "So, you three, how was the trip?"

Malik and Rebecca beamed at him as they both started happily chattering at the same time, while Bakura merely folded his arms across his athletic chest and shrugged noncommittally while he waited for his turn to speak. Rebecca realized that no one could understand her or Malik while they talked over each other and subsided into silence so Malik could speak first, "Ra, the time went by _so _much faster when you have someone that will actually pass the time with you instead of just sit there like a lump." Here Bakura glared at his tanned friend as Malik grinned at him unrepentantly, while mischief twinkling in his lavender eyes as he continued, "Rebecca here," he pointed to her in a flourish of dramatic happiness accompanied by a side-long meaningful glance at Bakura, "actually _likes _to converse with people and keep them occupied. Yami gave her a book of riddles that we had hours of rifling through; I might not have gotten them all but it was still fun trying to puzzle them out with her." Bakura rolled his eyes at his friend causing Malik to flip his hair at him as he turned his nose while replying in a smug voice, "Rebecca and I will be traveling together from now on thank-you-very-much."

Rebecca was looking slightly worried between the two, afraid that Bakura would be angry at her and accuse her of trying to come between him and Maliks' friendship, but he just shrugged in irritated acceptance; everyone else knew Malik well enough to know that he was just teasing Bakura with his talk, of which Bakura took in stride since he was too used to his Egyptian friend. Bakura looked around noticing that the twins weren't there and said, "Where're the Siamese twins?" Rebecca had also been looking around for her crush and was disappointed that he wasn't there.

Honda replied easily, "I gave Yami some pain meds, so he's sleeping in the back of the truck, and Heba is brushing up on what to expect for the rest of this trip; I swear he hasn't put that book down for the entire trip." Honda shook his head in slight worry for his little friend, but accepted the fact that _someone_ had to read the thing so that no one else got hurt. He then turned to Bakura and tilted his head curiously as he asked him, "So, no problems with tweedle-he and tweedle-she?"

Jou, Otogi, Rebecca, and Malik all snickered at the nicknames while Bakura smirked evilly, "Keith knows not to bother me. Malik called me in to play a little prank on him a few years back; though he could never prove that it was me that blew up the main sewer line under his house."

Bakura's smirk grew in arrogance as everyone gaped at him; some in morbid awe and some in utter delight. Jou and Otogi threw their heads back and laughed while Malik rolled on the floor holding his stomach. Bakura held up a finger and pointed to the gasping Malik as Malik tried to regain enough breath to wheeze out, "Y-you shou-should've," he paused as another wave of laughter shook him, before continuing on with tears of mirth in his eyes, "you should've seen the look on his _face!_" He dissolved into another fit of laughter as he frantically grabbed at his bag to open up a pocket and drag out little photographs. He passed them out as he triumphantly crowed, "But we put cameras in his house so we could get his expression!" Jou, Honda, and Otogi frantically grabbed at the photographs, laughing hysterically as they got a look of Keith's face; appalled, angry, and disgusted, all at the same time. They all begged Malik for copies of the photos when they got home.

Bakura was definitely looking smug now, and Rebecca asked, "So how was the trip with Mai?" She remembered that Mai was the worst conversationalist of the two and figured that if anyone would get on Bakura's nerves it would be her. Everyone went quiet to hear his next words as they gazed at him expectantly.

Bakura shrugged and said, "She was quiet the entire time." Everyone looked disappointed that he hadn't messed with her, until Bakura slyly added, "After I held a lighter to her perfume-saturated hair." A moment of quiet until everyone exploded with laughter and congratulated Bakura on the devious plot; to which he accepted with an evil smirk as his due. Malik howled with laughter as he pictured Mai screaming around like headless chicken with her perfectly curled hair on fire.

Everyone suddenly sobered as they heard a voice behind them, "**What are you all laughing at**?" Keith stood behind them as he glared at them irritably, not having understood a word any of them just said. Several in the group had to hide snickers from him as they turned away to pretend to cough; everyone then turned back to him with wide-eyed innocence as they all smoothly replied, "**Nothing, sir.**" All except for Bakura, who just folded his arms across his chest and ignored the man completely. Keith didn't believe them for a second but he had no proof of his suspicions that they had been laughing at him; so he angrily turned away and called over his shoulder, "**Whatever. Just tell Mr. Mutou to tell us which way to go when we finish our break.**" As he stomped away the group thought they heard him mutter under his breath, "**You fucking fag freaks.**" Everyone glared at him hatefully as Jou, Bakura, and Malik all flipped him off behind his back.

* * *

**_~~Heba Mutou~~_**

They continued chatting for a little while before heading over towards their vehicles to begin the trip again when Keith called the end of the break. Bakura, having decided that he didn't want to put up with Keith's shit anymore, joined Honda with Yami and Heba, causing Heba to startle so badly at the sight of the intimidating man that he dropped his book. Bakura rolled his eyes and contemplated shouting 'boo' at him but refrained, before climbing into the back with Yami and made himself some room. Honda picked up the Journal and handed it to Heba, not realizing that he gave it to him upside down, and Heba flipped a few pages to reach his spot; he was still a little shaken up and didn't notice that he held it upside down either. He found the picture that he was looking for and directed them to go left.

Honda drove up the left pathway without question as he turned to Heba and told him, "It's alright Heba, I know Bakura can be a little intimidating sometimes but-," he was suddenly cut off as a shriek of rage from in front of them sounded. A giant praying mantis-like creature with glowing red eyes clicked its mandibles at them furiously as it made angry motions at them with its scythes; threatening them for trespassing in its territory. The convoy immediately backed off as Honda and Heba just about fainted in terror, causing Bakura and Yami to slam into the trucks' side; effectively waking Yami up and pissing Bakura off. They both looked out front, Bakura with a curse on his tongue for the two of them in front, but they both broke off as they saw what was in front of them; the drill was behind them and wasn't backing up fast enough for their liking. Adrenaline spiked through them all as they finally made their way away from the monstrous creature; luckily the giant bug wanted nothing to do with them and retreated back into its cave.

Back at the intersection, people got out of their vehicles to congregate around the truck to question Heba. Jou and Otogi rushed to Honda to make sure he was alright as Bakura climbed up into Malik's drill; he wasn't riding in the front anymore unless he had his dynamite, so he was going to ride in the nearly indestructible drill. Rebecca had climbed down to talk to the group as she questioned Yami in an awed voice, "Did you _see _that? It looked just like a Basic Insect from Duel Monsters; I have like twenty of his cards." Yami nodded, feeling very similarly in awe though a bit more reserved in his awe; he had had a front-row-seat of looking at the thing while in the most amount of danger, plus he was worried for his brother who was currently getting his ear chewed out by Keith.

Heba was apologizing furiously, utterly terrified for his group; he felt that he had failed them and tears were welling in his eyes at how easily any of them could have been injured, even killed, at his thoughtless mistake. He felt the sudden weight of burden for their lives fall onto his shoulders, and he wanted to leave Keith and apologize to them all. Tears he refused to shed, clogged the back of his throat making his voice husky, as explained to Keith how he dropped the Journal and made the mistake and that it was the other way they were supposed to go. Keith left in a huff, while Heba went around to everyone to apologize to them personally. Any anger they may have felt at him for putting their life in danger, dissolved under the honest sincerity of his tone; it also helped that he looked like a small child that refused to cry as he apologized to them. Heba's friends were the most understanding of him as they gave him bits of encouragement to try again; Heba felt better as he listened to them and felt as though he wasn't alone anymore, that if he failed then his friends would have his back. That, more, than anything else gave him a boost of determination to succeed; he refused to put these wonderful people's live in jeopardy when they were willing to put so much faith in him. Yami caught Heba's eye and he noticed his younger twins' new-found strength, so he smiled gently and nodded to him in encouragement; it was all that was needed between the two. Squaring his shoulders in determination, Heba sat back in the truck and focused on memorizing the layout of the rest of the highway to Atlantis, so that nothing like this would happen again. Driving through the right pathway they continued onwards; Heba with new-found determination in his soul.

* * *

**_~~Yami Mutou~~_**

Yami was struggling with himself; the childish dreamer still alive inside him was beside himself with glee that he had gotten to see a real, honest-to-Ra Duel Monster up-close and personal. Ever since he had begun playing Duel Monsters, it had become his game of choice; he loved the game with a passion, and to actually see a real-life Duel Monster was beyond his wildest dreams. The dreamer inside him couldn't help but pray that Atlantis was real, not only for an affirmation of a familial lineage passed down through generations, but also to see if maybe, just maybe, there could be more Duel Monsters at their destination. But the realist inside him was screaming at him in disgusted cynicism, saying not to believe in fairytales; that the pot-of-gold at the end of a rainbow doesn't exist, that his dream was only going to shatter around his feet and then where would he be? Broken, empty inside, and feeling that familiar sickness in his soul that drags him under a tide of despair and broken hearts; just like his Grandpa, just like…her. The realist reminds him, over and over, to remember what happened the last time he let himself believe, what happened to the people he loved when _they _lost their dream. A headache was beginning to form in Yami's head as a piercing voice screamed at him to protect his brother, not to let Heba find out the cost first hand; telling him frantically that everyone he loved had died of a broken dream and to not let Heba be destroyed as well.

Yami was beside himself with indecision, so he did something he hadn't done in a long time; he prayed. He prayed to the Japanese gods, the Greek gods, the Egyptian gods, hell he even prayed to the power of Duel Monsters, as he closed the partition between the back and front seat to shield what he was doing and painfully got to his knees, even as his right leg let out a shriek of protest, and he clasped his hands together and prayed; he prayed that, no matter what, whether Atlantis was real or not, he prayed that Heba would find the strength to continue onwards. A sudden song went through his head and he chuckled slightly at the irony; he decided that it was all the gods would give him in answer. It had been one of _her_ favorite songs and memories of nights spent slow dancing to the tune filled him with a sense of loving familiarity; so he laid back down as the American song "_I Hope You Dance_" by Lee Ann Womack played through his head, as he settled down for a long ride.

Trying to decide on what to do to pass the time and to get his mind off of how Heba would react if he failed, Yami looked through his bag. A hint of gold winked at him through a loosely wrapped shirt and he contemplated ignoring the Golden Box that had housed the Sheppard's Journal, remembering the brilliant light that had glowed from the box as he had his vision; he still needed to tell Heba about what he had seen for those few moments of time he held it in his hands.

The memory of feeling his consciousness being transported somewhere else while his body remained on the submarine filled his mind. For a few seconds in time, he had been transported to stand in an open-aired room in front of a bed with a mirror-image of Heba sleeping in it. The mirror-image had been bare to the waist up to show milk-pale skin in the moonlight. The same cherubic face, similar to that of a middle-schooler, was turned towards him in innocent sleep, long lashes were swept gently down in peaceful slumber, and pink lips slightly parted as he breathed through his rose-bud mouth in gentle breathing. His tri-colored hair had had the same magenta tips that his twin had and he had a feeling that if the other were to have opened his eyes they would be the same amethyst color. Yet, despite all of their similarities, Yami had known that the boy before him wasn't his brother, because a bolt of pure, unadulterated lust had sizzled through his spine to hit the tip of his cock; a feeling he would have _never _associated with his brother, and still didn't. He would have been fine with just feeling the lust, but he had also felt his very _soul _brush up against the boy's soul, and he had felt feelings well-up inside of him at the contact; feelings that were much too strong for someone he had never even met. What had really confused Yami though, was the feeling of his consciousness _merging _with the unknown boy's and sharing a split second of emotions with the boy; he had felt his tiredness and he had known that the boy had gone to sleep early so that he could go hunting in the morning. Another second later and he was back in his own body aboard the submarine, blinking at the vision while everyone else was asking questions about the bright glow that had almost blinded them. He had learned that he would feel a bit of the boy's consciousness in his mind so long as he was touching bare skin to the Box, but it went away after he put it down or held a piece of cloth between his skin and the warm gold. Even when he touched the Box directly, he never had a vision of being in front of the boy again, but he still decided to wrap it away for later study.

Now, as he stared at the Box, he suddenly had a yearning to see the unknown boy again, to feel that emotional connection with him once again. His soul cried out for contact with the others' soul and his heart shared his souls' yearning; he felt more for this unknown boy than he had for _her_, his ex-fiancé, his best friend. They had grown up together, and he had loved her with a child's love and with a child's tender emotions; when she died, the Yami that loved her and dreamed childish dreams had died with her. The emotions he felt for this boy were an adult's emotions, intense, passionate, protective, and fiercely possessive.

With the thought of feeling that connection in his soul again, he reached for the Golden Box and unwrapped it, letting the intricately-shaped box fall into his hands. Crimson eyes closed as his consciousness merged again with the boy, but this time the other was conscious as well, instead of asleep. Yami connected and felt patient concentration mixed with cautious excitement coming from the other. Yami's soul bumped up against the other person's and Yami felt the other pause in confusion as he felt Yami's emotions as well. Surprise and weariness, but undeniable curiosity, came through their connection and Yami felt the boy send him a feeling that resembled a question. Yami guessed the other was trying to ask who he was, or maybe how the connection was happening, but since Yami had no idea how to answer back in sentences he merely sent the other the impression of a shrug. Faint amusement came through on the other side as the boy seemed to tease him; Yami sent back the impression of a raised eyebrow. Curious wonderment and innocent optimism bathed Yami's soul through their link and he sighed aloud at the warmth that flowed through his chest and radiated throughout his body; chasing away the dark shadows that had been a part of his heart and soul since his Grandpa and fiancé died.

Unconscious happiness and wonder flowed to the other from his side and he felt the other back away a bit in bashful embarrassment. Yami tried to send reassurance to the other, but before he could get a reading on whether or not the feeling had gone through, he felt the other's burst of surprised pain before it mixed with irritation. It wasn't directed at Yami but he felt it anyway and sent a feeling of concern mixed with a question towards the other entity. Embarrassed reassurance came back but it was mixed with a feeling of pain and Yami felt a growl erupt from him as he realized the other was injured; the other felt the growl and mistook it to mean Yami was angry at him and pulled away completely in alarmed puzzlement. Yami frantically tried to call him back, trying to reassure him that he wasn't mad at him, but the other only sent a small response of weary curiosity back to him before sending him an impression of wanting to talk later, but not now. Yami cautiously sent back an inquiry of concern regarding the pain the other felt and Yami felt the other's response of embarrassed reassurance; before the other pulled away from the connection.

Yami sat in silence for several seconds, hardly daring to believe that he had made contact with the other at all, and opened his eyes to regard the Box in his hands with wonder. He had never before felt such a connection with another living being and the feeling had been almost beyond exquisite; the mental, emotional, and spiritual melding had been an act that was even more intimate than any form of sex he had ever had with any person, and he couldn't help but to wonder how it would feel to have sex with that kind of melding. _Surely, _Yami thought, _it would either kill the two involved, or it would be the most mind-blowing sex in the universe; they would be envied by even the gods themselves._ Yami felt himself harden as his eyes lowered to half-mast in an unconsciously sexy expression at the thought of him with the person from his vision; heavy-lidded amethyst-colored eyes staring up at him from a cream-pale face, slightly reddened from passion, while sweat-slicked skin moved under him in a wild dance as old as time itself. Yami shook himself out of his daydream when his erection began cutting into the zipper of his leather pants, as he tried to readjust himself into a much more _comfortable _position.

Still holding the Box as he tried to find a more comfortable position, his sensitive fingers suddenly felt a strange groove. Curious, Yami peered closer at the Box and discovered that the Box was actually covered in grooves. Adjusting his fingers to follow the grooves, he was surprised to find one of the corners of the box move slightly. Feeling around a little bit more, he discovered that a couple of the sections between grooves moved around a bit. Crimson eyes went wide in delighted surprise as he tried moving one of the moveable pieces of the box around into different positions until, with a click of release, the piece fell inward, into the Box. Yami opened the Box and fished the piece out, beyond delighted with this unexpected gift, as he gazed at the piece in anticipation.

Quickly dragging himself up to the partition, he opened it to find Heba with the Journal still buried in his face while Honda drove the truck and spoke to Otogi over the walkie-talkie. Reaching through the partition, he clasped his brother's shoulder to get his attention; Heba just about jumped three feet in the air at the contact and let out an emasculating squeak. Yami raised a brow at the sound but let it go in light of his discovery, red eyes sparkling while an anticipatory smirk graced his face, as Heba and Honda turned to see him. Heba put a hand to his pounding heart and scolded, "Geez! Did you have to scare me, Yami?" Yami opened his mouth to explain his discovery but Heba's eyebrows pulled down in concern as he questioned quickly, "You're not hurt are you? Is your leg bothering you? Should we give you more pain meds, or-," Heba was cut off as Yami put his hand over his little brother's mouth.

Yami, crimson eyes dancing, replied, "No, I'm fine, thanks for asking. Anyway," Yami pulled his hand away from Heba's mouth to hold up the Golden Box in one hand and its little golden piece in another, as he continued, "look at this!"

Heba and Honda both looked at the piece in his hand and they both looked at him in sympathy, as Honda exclaimed, "I'm sorry that it broke on you Yami; I knew that it was an heirloom from your Grandpa and all-," Honda suddenly broke off as Yami threw his head back and laughed.

Heba and Honda both looked at him like he'd gone mad as Yami calmed down enough to chuckle over their expressions before correcting, "No, no. It's not broken. Heba," here he turned to his brother and held the piece and the Box closer to each other for Heba to see closer, as he continued, "Heba, this is a puzzle." At Heba and Honda's look of surprise he rushed on, "It's a puzzle, Heba. The whole box is a puzzle!"

Excitement made Yami's eyes gleam a bright red, as Heba took the Box and its Piece to study them closer; where he realized that Yami was right, it was a puzzle. He turned to his brother in amazement over the discovery but Honda beat him to it as he asked, "How is it a puzzle?" Honda was honestly curious, it looked to him as though the piece of gold had just broken off from the Box; he hadn't gotten a close enough look at the thing since he had to focus on his driving.

Heba held the Piece up and showed him the interlocking grooves of the Piece as he explained, "See the grooves from this piece? Those were designed to hold the Box in its shape so that it didn't slide around too much and disassemble on its own; you can only seem to break them apart when they're in a certain position and in a certain puzzle-piece order. It's an interlocking-puzzle then; like a burr puzzle." Heba's tone had taken on the same excitement as his twins' as he regarded the puzzle Box and its' little Piece

Honda, who had been following along so far, suddenly frowned in confusion as he questioned, "What's a burr puzzle?"

Heba opened his mouth to answer but Yami, King and Head anthropologist of Games, answered automatically as he took the Box back from Heba to find another loose piece, "A burr puzzle is a type of interlocking-puzzle consisting of notched sticks, combined to make one three-dimensional, usually symmetrical unit. They're traditionally made out of wood, but versions made of plastic or metal can also be found. The most famous type of burr puzzle would be the Puzzle Knot, also known as the Chinese Cross. You solve them piece by piece, one at a time. For every piece you solve, another random one becomes available for you to reposition to unlock; they take a lot of patience to solve." Yami explained as he removed another piece with a barely audible '_click'._ Crimson eyes regarded the puzzle-box thoughtfully as he concentrated on feeling out the dimensions of the puzzle, trying to find the next possible piece to be unlocked. Honda made a noise of understanding; his mother had bought Otogi a Chinese Cross at one point, so he understood the concept now. Yami addressed Heba, "Also, I think this puzzle is a mixture of different types of puzzles."

Heba, confused, asked, "What do you mean?"

Yami glanced in his direction and gestured to the Piece Heba held as he said, "If you look closely at that Piece, you'll realize that it bends in a different direction now that it's not being held in place." Heba gently maneuvered the Piece in his hand and exclaimed in surprise when he felt the metal bend at a certain angle; Yami smiled encouragingly at Heba to reassure him that he hadn't broken it. He rebent it in its original position and found that there was no in-between angle it could be bent at; it snapped into place as though there was a mechanism inside the actual metal that allowed it to only be in two positions. Heba couldn't believe the ingenuity of it and now he understood why it was his twin was so interested in this puzzle; it was an architectural masterpiece. This puzzle not only disassembled itself like an interlocking-puzzle, it was meant to be rebent to then be reassembled into a completely different shape of a completely different puzzle! It was astonishing! Yami, having noticed that his brother now understood the concept of the puzzle, elaborated for Honda, "It's an interlocking-puzzle but its' Pieces have two shapes to then be reassembled as a different-shaped puzzle; if you can put it all back together. And if my guess is correct, it's reassembled very much like a burr puzzle is disassembled; one piece at a time and only in a certain order." Another piece was disassembled within Yami's capable hands.

Honda whistled lowly, stating, "That seems like an awful lot of trouble solve just one puzzle, and you're telling me it forms into two? That's just incredible." He was honestly impressed; it had taken Otogi weeks to figure out how to untangle his Chinese Cross, yet Yami was taking apart the Golden Box like it was nothing at all. Honda guessed that that was why he was given the title King of Games; he certainly deserved it.

Yami closed his eyes as he pictured the young man he had seen in that open-aired stone room. He couldn't feel the other's essence through the Box anymore, maybe because he was breaking it down, but he had a feeling that if he resolved the puzzle into its new shape, then he would be able to actually speak to the other entity instead of just send their emotions through the link. One thing was for sure, deep down in his gut Yami knew that the other was meant for him, had been created by the gods purely for him, just as he, Yami Mutou, had been fashioned by the gods for the other boy; he knew it deep within his soul, without a shadow of a doubt. Another Piece _'clicked' _out of its place and Yami smirked in challenge as he acknowledged within his heart and soul that he wanted the boy, needed him even, and he never backed down when he knew he wanted something; it definitely helped that Yami always won. The boy, Yami's destiny, lay ahead of him. Whether he was in Atlantis or not, all Yami cared about was getting there to be with his destiny, and woe to anyone that tried to stop him; he was, after all, a formidable opponent.

* * *

Several miles away, Deep under the Atlantic Ocean-floor

Innocence shone from amethyst-colored eyes as the young man smiled at the healer before him; the tanned woman radiated serenity and calm as her waist-length straight black hair flared out towards the young man as she turned her back on him to get a medicinal herb from the shelf behind her. Dark purplish-gray eyes regarded the young man seriously as she applied the unguent to the gash across his leg, making sure there would be no infection, before she held her golden necklace set with the eye of Ra for a second, causing her hand to glow golden, before setting her open palm against the wound. A few seconds later, she lifted her hand and the skin had healed over the wound, taking the unguent deep inside to fight against infections under the skin; she had learned wisely against _that _particular problem.

The owner of the purple eyes smiled at the healer optimistically and gratefully chirped, "**Shukran Isis! **(Thank you, Isis!)" In modern-day Arabic; he knew she preferred to be spoken to in any form of Egyptian. She felt a certain connection to the upper-world desert land, and she loved being reminded of that place.

Isis smiled at the young man's thoughtfulness and nodded to him in acceptance, returning the favor and speaking to him in _his _favorite language, Japanese, "You are most welcome, **watashi no Ouji-sama **(my prince)." The young prince scrunched his nose up at her teasingly, everyone knew that the young man preferred not to be called anything so formal as prince, or your highness.

In his mind, that title belonged purely to his cousin, after all, his cousin was the one who was destined to become King, while _he _was destined to leave his home someday; he was the one with milk-pale skin, and everyone knew that those with pale skin were supposed to eventually find their true home somewhere else. And if the strange warmth in his chest that had awoken him that morning and the emotions of another person reaching into his soul were any indication, the time for his departure would be soon.

The young prince had been present at the council meeting as he, his cousin, and four of his friends confessed that they had been awakened in the night by a strange feeling of warmth in their chests; the only conclusion the council had been able to arrive at, were that their soul-mates had arrived. The council was of course overjoyed; no one had found a soul-mate for several centuries, and to have the two princes and the two sons of the High Priest find their soul-mates at the same time was beyond miraculous. The only problem was that that meant that they had intruders; not that their six soul-mates would be considered intruders, but it was unlikely that they would be alone. The six of them had decided that they would all be heading out in search of their soul-mates in a few hours, but he had had to go on hunting duty first.

While out searching for prey, he had felt the warmth travel through his chest again and felt the unfamiliar presence of someone else in his mind; the other person had been delightful to have inside his mind and the young man flushed in embarrassment as he recalled the heat that had flown through his veins at the almost-seductive quality of the other person's conscious against his mind. He had been so caught off guard by the powerful force of his attraction for a person he had never even met, that he had dropped his harpoon, causing the hook-head to scrape along the side of his leg; it wasn't that deep, but it bled and it hurt. He had felt the other's fierce anger that he had been hurt and had felt very protected, until he had felt the darkness below the other's concern; deep below the surface had been a whirlpool of anger, betrayal, and grief, so profound that he had automatically cried out in sympathetic pain for the other. He had wanted to help the other _so_ bad, but then he had forcefully reminded himself that the other was too far away and that he wouldn't be able to comfort the other for at least another day; that sense of failure, at being unable to help his soul-mate on an emotional level, had made him pull away so that he could focus on getting home so that he could leave with his friends and cousin right away. He had felt the other's initial panic at the thought that they had been the one to force him away, but he had tried to reassure the other as best he could, before pulling away completely to limp back home.

Now, all healed up, he tried to contact the presence again but to no avail. Walking towards his room to pack his supplies for the journey out of the city, he tried calling out to the presence and wondered for a split-second if the other had died. Terror ruled his heart for a moment before common sense penetrated his brain; if his soul-mate had died, then he would have felt it. So that left him with wondering if the other was ignoring him? He didn't think so; he would have still been able to sense him if he was ignoring him. So that left him with the conclusion that they could only reach each other under certain circumstances of which he had no control over. He sighed in depression, but felt a spark of hope; all it meant was that they weren't able to sense each other for _now_, not forever. Drawing courage from that thought, he stepped into his room to pack, praying that the trip would go smoothly. Although, knowing a certain purple-eyed fiend and his icy relative, the trip wouldn't go exactly according to plan; but, ever the optimist, he decided that at the very least the trip would be eventful. Maybe when they met their soul-mates he could make some new friends; at that thought, the young prince gained a spring in his step as he packed his field-pack while humming a spirited tune.

* * *

**Can you believe that my entire disclaimer and intro part before the story is almost a page in and of itself? It's true!**

**Thanks to all my viewers and reviewers; I have three more reviewers, whoo! ^0^**

**The columns that I referred to as Doric, I had no idea that that was what they were called until I asked my Akra-mama (those of you that read Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series will understand the reference; and yes I call her that in real life just as she calls me 'Simi' ^-^) what they were called; so for those of you that were like me and wondered what in the hell a Doric column looks like, it is one of those white rounded columns with the ridges interspersed in the column itself. They're the ones that I always referred to as the Greek pillars that I saw constantly in the Hercules movie.**

**It took me a while to figure out what to give Bakura for him to pass the time, cuz I always pictured him as the type to get frustrated with physical puzzles and would eventually get pissed off at in and try to break it or just throw it out of the car. So I, not wanting him to break one of Yami's toys, decided on a videogame so that he might find it more enjoyable; like a flashing child with bright lights (Sorry Bakura! XD). My cousin had been playing Portal 2 recently at my house so I figured that it would be something that Yami would have; it's pretty challenging!**

**Don't worry about what's in Malik's bag; all will be explained. It's nothing dangerous and you'll find out next chapter what's in it; you're all in for a surprise when you find out what it's for (laughs maniacally as I rub my hands together like a mad scientist; wow I am channeling Malik _way _too much). The same goes for the monstrosity-truck; that will be explained in later chapters, though.**

**My little nicknames for Keith and Mai, Tweedle-he and Tweedle-she, are actual nicknames I created and use in real-day life. My step-father has two kids, a boy and a girl, and years ago, whenever they would come over to visit on weekends, they were both very hyper-active; so I started calling them tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb after the two always-bouncing characters from Alice in Wonderland. Well, at one point when I called the boy tweedle-dee, my mouth mispronounced it into tweedle-he; I decided I fit, so I gave them both the little nicknames. I still use it, even to this day; and I just thought it would fit into the story XD.**

**The song "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack is one of my favorites and is my official 'song' with my Akra-Mama; whenever it comes on we have to sing along with each other. It's a very dear song to my heart and I'm glad I got to put it in there; especially in a way that didn't make Yami appear too girly (the main characters are all boys after all). **

**I couldn't find an phonetic translation for Thank You in Ancient Egyptian, so I used the modern-day Arabic version. I'm currently waiting for a book of Ancient Egyptian translation book that I was recommended, but it could be awhile, sooo… I'm trying to make this as authentic as possible; if anyone else knows of a good website, or book that gives translations for Ancient Egyptian, I would be forever grateful.**

**Alright, fifteen pages in just a few days; I'm on a roll! Whoo! ^O^ Anyway, thanks again to all my viewers and reviewers; I take all reviews so please comment!**


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I, FallTigerKisa, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Neither it's characters, themes, nor plots (no matter how much I would have loved to make it into a yaoi). Nor do I, FallTigerKisa, own Atlantis The Lost Empire.

Please Note: THIS IS RATED M FOR A REASON! Filled with juicy yaoi and hentai goodness and enough lemons to make a roomful of fangirls sigh in bliss (or at least enough to make me satisfied without destroying the plot). Painings:YxYY, AtemuxHeba, SetoxJou, BxR, MxYM, and slight HxO, DMxDMG, SethxKisara, and MokubaxShizuka.

I have since decided that all dialogue will be in Japanese but automatically translated in English, but when the conversations are in English the words will be in English in all "**Bold**", with none of the translated word in parenthesis of course. However, a word written in "**Bold"**with the English translation in (Parenthesis) is in a different language. ~_Italicized~_with little squiggly lines are mind-to-mind conversations. And to really mess with you all I might just put them both together in which they are mind-to-mind in a different language. I assume you all do not need an example. I'm also adding _Italicized_ as regular thoughts.

This does not include bashing of any kind, I have a high respect for all Yu-Gi-Oh characters (except Bandit Keith A.K.A Rourke) and I based their Atlantis counterparts off of strange connections I made up in my own twisted mind, so please do not get offended if an otherwise good Yu-Gi-Oh character is given a weird Atlantis counterpart, and vice versa.

Also, the perspective will change between characters and I will have their ~~_**Name**_~~ in bold italics between four squiggly lines in the middle of the page. This is in third-person but the perspective will change; the story will follow that person and his/her adventures but still in third-person.

From now on, I have decided that 'the crew' will describe Mai and Keith and the surviving crew on their side; while 'the group' will be the characters you know and love.

WARNING: Every chapter from here on out has offensive language; thank you Yami Bakura.

Please Review! I take all comments; positive or negative, UNLESS they have to do with the yaoi, homosexual thing, in which I have only to say "DON"T LIKE, DON'T READ!" Can't get any simpler than that.

* * *

Ancient Highway to Atlantis, Several Miles under the Atlantic Ocean-Floor

_**~~Yami Mutou~~**_

The convoy had been traveling for nine hours and everyone was tired and tempers were beginning to flare. Not even the growing evidence of civilization could hold their attentions for more than a few minutes, at most. The truck in front passed yet another destroyed building, collapsed from the inside and merged with the stone wall they passed, while trudging downhill to pass a small stream that leaked from the top of the stone building to trickle down between the cracks. Yami had been steadily making progress in disassembling the puzzle-box, but he had become somewhat stuck for the last ten minutes. Deciding he needed a break, he pulled open the partition to see what was going on ahead of them. Heba had told him that their next landmark was supposed to be coming up soon; but all he could see was darkened roads.

Suddenly the truck began making stuttering noises as it slowed down before speeding up again with a jolt. It continued doing that for a few more yards until it stuttered to a stop. The vehicles behind them also stopped and Keith could be heard shouting out for a quick twenty-minute break to refuel. Everyone got out of the vehicles to stretch as the people who had been taking naps in the vehicles were ordered to switch with those that had been driving. Heba stretched his short legs inside the open aired truck and stayed where he was at, deciding to continue studying the route ahead of them in his Journal; he was taking his previous mistake to heart and was determined that he wouldn't fail his friends again. Absently rubbing at the warm spot in his chest, Heba winced as he stretched his sore neck and pulled a muscle in the wrong direction; his neck had been bothering him since he wrenched it in their escape from the Leviathan, but he didn't want to bother Honda about it when his twin was suffering from a cut-up leg, so he had decided to not mention it and try his best to ignore it. I

Yami, having noticed his brother's pained expression, frowned in concern and made a mental note to tell Honda about it later. On one of their previous rest stops for refueling and driver switches, Jou had found a piece of a spare Drill part that he and Honda managed to twist together to make a semblance of a crutch for Yami. With it, Yami decided to stretch his good leg and get his brother to take a break from his researching. He made an more pronounced production of 'trying' to get out of the truck so his brother would notice; instantly Heba's eyes were drawn to his older twin in concern as he was lured right into Yami's subtle web. Yami hid his smirk as Heba, always the solicitous brother, jumped out of the truck to help his brother out of the car, fussing over him in worry as he 'let' Yami use his shoulder as an extra brace. Yami almost rolled his eyes, almost, but he regained his composure and allowed his brother to 'lead' him towards where the others were. Jou noticed them coming towards the hummer and hid a smile at the older sibling maneuver that Yami was using; he had done it to Shizuka a few time before without her ever catching on. As the two came forward, they noticed that everyone was drinking out of small metal canteens that produced a fragrant smell; Yami immediately recognized it as Earl Grey tea from his extensive travels, while Heba only smelled it as a fragrant drink that tantalized his nose. Sniffing at it appreciatively, Heba commented, "Wow, Jou. You outdid yourself; that smells _really _good." Yami nodded his assent at the comment.

Jou and Bakura both raised a brow as Malik grinned in mischief. Jou, with a face full of embarrassed amusement, sheepishly corrected, "Actually Heba, I can't do beverages very well. Da tea expert here is Bakura." At Yami's mildly surprised expression and Heba's obviously shocked one, Bakura snorted in annoyance.

Blushing in embarrassment over his _faux paus_, Heba bowed to Bakura and contritely apologized, "I'm sorry, Bakura. I just thought- I would have never expected-, " Here, he stuttered as he tried to explain his thought without insulting the white-haired man who was by now rolling his eyes at the flustered young man.

Malik was grinning from ear to ear as he watched the tanned youth try to explain himself, highly amused. He teased, "You didn't think that someone who looked like Bakura was the type to make teas?" Bakura gave his friend a dirty look as Heba turned even brighter a red; he stuttered even more as he tried to dispute the Egyptians' words.

Yami cut his twin off as he smoothly interjected, "I believe my twin is trying to say that he wasn't expecting someone else to have made the tea besides our cook, and that the fact that anyone else was able to make such excellent-smelling tea should be commended for his teas as highly as Jou should for his cooking; it was an honest mistake." Heba sent his twin a look of gratitude at the nice save while Malik pouted.

Bakura merely rolled his eyes as he irritatedly stated, "I _know _what he meant mister High-and-Mighty King of Games." Completely ignoring Yami's narrowing eyes at the derisive title, he continued, "I don't actually care about people's opinions about my tea-making skills, they don't mean a damn thing when in the grand scheme of things; making things blow up, now _that's _a good skill to have." Yami saw a spark of something in his russet-colored eyes when he said this, some flash of old pain or trauma from the past that was deeply hidden inside the white-haired man, before the flash was gone like it was never there. Yami wondered about that small flash of old sorrow he had seen but decided it was none of his business; he and Bakura weren't good enough friends for heart-to-heart conversations, nor were either of them the type to give them out anyway.

Heba, not having noticed the flash of emotions in the demolitionist's eyes, sniffed at the enticing smell and courteously asked him, "Would you mind if I had some, Bakura?"

Bakura shrugged indifferently as he responded, "If you'd like, but I only have two more canteens of the stuff. One's here and I left the other with my stuff over there when I was checking inventory." He gestured an airy hand towards one of the supply wagons.

Heba immediately gave the closest canteen of the delicious English-favored tea to his injured brother and headed off towards the supply wagon, as Bakura and Malik slowly trailed behind him; no one even noticed the evil glint in Bakura's eyes as Malik's shone with anticipation. Yami took a deep gulp of the tea and sighed in bliss at the taste, a little interested in the slight metallic after-taste that he deduced was caused from being in a metal container. He then turned to Honda and told him of his observation about his twin, and Honda promised to take care of it. Yami smiled in gratitude at the brunet as the group began chatting. A few minutes later they all heard a shouted "BOOM!" that was unmistakably Malik a second before they heard a shriek from Heba coming from the direction of the supply wagons. A few seconds later, Bakura and Malik came around the side of a supply wagon, both of them laughing uproariously. Jou groaned as he despairingly said, "Guess we know who deir newest target is. Good luck Heba." Jou, Honda, and Otogi all shook their heads in silent sympathy while Rebecca stared in their directions with wide eyes, her glasses poised on the tip of her nose making her aquamarine eyes seem even larger.

* * *

_**~~Heba Mutou~~**_

Heba made his way towards the supply wagon that he knew held Bakura's explosives; not noticing the two pranksters sneaking behind him. Heba found the supply wagon, seeing the half-opened crates overfilling with the little red cylinders of death, and saw a metal canteen leaning up against one of the crates. Grabbing it up he unstopped the top of the canteen and took a big swig of the liquid inside. Sighing at the strangely metallic taste, he rubbed a sleeve against his mouth to wipe up the excess drink. Sighing happily at quenching his parched throat, he heard Bakura say behind him, "You didn't just drink that, did you?"

Not noticing the ominous tone in his voice, Heba turned around and nodded happily as he still held the canteen, "Mm-hmm!" He smiled brightly at the white-haired man, not noticing the man's wide eyes.

At least, not until his next words, "That's not good; that's nitroglycerin!" Heba's eyes went wide in panic, naively believing the man because of the strange metallic taste he had picked up from the liquid. Heba dropped the canteen in his panic as his hands flew up to desperately clutched at his throat. His tanned face paled in terror as tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, while Bakura held up his hands at Heba's quick movement and urgently cautioned, "Don't move; Don't breathe; Don't do _anything,_" a quick slide of russet eyes to Heba's left as Heba froze, and Bakura continued, "except… pray maybe."

"_BOOM!_" Malik shouted next to Heba's ear and Heba jumped three feet in the air in terrified fright, seeing his life flash before his very eyes for a split second as he let out an unconscious shriek of fright. Malik and Bakura laughed uproariously at his expression and walked away having finished their prank on the poor scholar. Heba took a deep breath in anger and sorrowful relief; he couldn't believe he had actually believed them. Heba picked the canteen back up as he slowly made his way back towards the group.

Honda, Otogi, and Jou gave him sympathetic looks while Yami glared at the two assholes still snickering to themselves. Heba put a hand on his twins' arm in constraint as he shook his head; it was his own fault for believing them in the first place and falling for such an easy trick. Crimson eyes narrowed at him but Yami nodded at him in angry acceptance; Yami smirked internally as he contemplated ways to pay the two back for their prank on his twin.

The break came to an end and Yami was loaded back up into the truck as his little mental break awarded him with two more Golden Pieces; he was almost done disassembling it, he only had about maybe six more to go. Heba, still a little shaky from the near-death-experience prank, decided to walk outside to burn off some of his energy. The next stop landmark wasn't until another hour according to his measurements of the map in the Journal, and he figured that that was most likely where they would be setting down for the night; which was a good thing since he had noticed that a good number of the crew and group had been yawning throughout the break. Their group had been revitalized by Bakura's tea, but Heba assumed that in an hour's time they would be ready for sleep. According to the Journal's instructions, they would need another day of winding travel to get to Atlantis and the thought of Atlantis filled Heba with a sense of anticipation, excitement and slight dread; he was slightly afraid of what he would find there, or rather, lack there-of. Heba quickly shook off the sense of sudden doubt and firmed his resolve to discover Atlantis at all costs.

Heba walked alongside the convoy, occasionally stopping to examine the Doric-styled pillars on the edges of the path. He could faintly discern the markings at the bases to be the same language as his Journal and translated the words, interestedly puzzled at the phrases that seemed to make no sense until he realized that they were most likely blessings to gods; they were too nonsensical to be anything else, even though some of them references to something that he could only translate as saying 'spells'.

Twenty minutes later, the path they were taking suddenly opened up into an enormous cave with rather large holes spanning through the upper part of the arching walls. Heads turned wearily to stare at the holes several stories above them, uneasily remembering the giant praying-mantis creature that came out of the last hole they went near. Uneasy crewmembers walked and drove slowly through the cave, continuing on the path. Keith and Mai's jeep pulled up alongside the walking Heba as Keith called out to him, "**What in the hell are those holes for, Mr. Mutou? No more giant creatures are going to pop out of them are they?" **Keith seemed honestly concerned about the answer; and of course he was, just not for the benefit of the crew, he was just worried about himself.

Heba stared up at the ceiling holes, not noticing Jou's hummer pulling up on the other side of him, as he explained, "**This area was said to be an intersection of the aerial and ground transportations.**"

Jou cocked a brow in puzzlement and Keith scowled at the answer, angry that he had to ask for clarification; but Jou beat him to it with a confused, "**What'cha talkin' 'bout Heba? What kinda transportations could' a been used by a civilization thousands' a years ago dat dey needed holes way up dere fer?**"

Heba glanced over at Jou, surprised to see him there, before he smiled as he got into his element, "**Well, according to ancient translations of texts about Atlantis, it was said that the Atlanteans could use the creatures, the modern-day Duel Monsters, and use a form of energy to tame them and even ride them." **Jou's eyes opened wide at the amazing concept while Keith's eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses; he didn't like the sound of _flying _creatures like that giant bug.

Meanwhile, Jou was ecstatic as he considered the possibility of his own favorite Duel Monster really walking around somewhere down there; the possibility of seeing one, maybe even getting to _ride_ one was enough to have Jou's honey-gold eyes gleaming with child-like delight and anticipation. His voice was rife with wide-eyed awe as he asked, "**Ya mean ta say dat one' a ma cards could' a actually been **_**flyin**_**' trough dis very cavern?**" Heba nodded and Jou's eyes lit up even more; Jou hadn't really believed that Atlantis might actually be real, to him it was just a job, but with the proof of, not just one but _two_, real-life Duel Monsters, and the thought that there might be more, was enough for Jou to hope, fervently, that Atlantis was real. Lost in his own thoughts he muttered reverently, "**On dis very same path.**"

Heba heard Jou's comment and felt it prudent to correct him, "**Actually Jou, it would have been several stories above us.**" When Jou blinked at him in confusion, Heba pointed towards the holes in the ceiling and clarified, "**Those things are the actual roads of the aerial Duel Monster creatures. This pathway that we've been traveling is the highway to Atlantis, but it was only used by the Duel Monsters that couldn't fly. **_**Those**_," he pointed to the holes and Jou followed with his honey-gold eyes, "**are essentially the overpasses of the highway; only, for the aerial Duel Monsters. I had originally thought that they were actual overpasses- I didn't believe that the Atlanteans actually had flying creatures that they could use for transportation and thought the references in the Journal for them was merely a bridge like in modern-day highways- but after our brush-ups with the Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth and the Basic Insect, I can't help but believe that the original translation was exactly what they were. According to the Journal, the holes up there are actually tunnels that flow all throughout the rock systems as ancient roads for the uses of the aerial Duel Monsters, but apparently, they sometimes intercede with the ground paths.**" Heba explained for Jou and Keith. Jou nodded in understanding and Keith let out a 'humph' before driving onward, leaving Heba with the hummer. Heba continued walking and Jou asked if he needed a lift. When Heba gratefully declined he explained about his restless energy from Malik and Bakura's prank; to which Jou nodded in understanding.

Jou's eyes suddenly widened in panic before Heba thought he saw Jou's eyes flash red; but when he blinked, they were back to there original honey-gold, although they were still wide in horrified surprise. The hummer rolled to stop and Heba stood next to Jou's window as he stared at his shaken blond friend in concern. Shizuka leaned forward in the back seat, while Jou held a hand to his chest as he appeared to be searching for something in puzzlement, and she also spread her hand across her chest in alarm as she asked, "Onii-chan? What was _that_?"

Jou and Heba both looked at her, Heba puzzled and Jou in concern, as Jou asked, "Ya felt dat? Describe what ya felt, Shizuka."

She frowned slightly as she tried to pinpoint what it was that she had felt exactly, and replied, "I've been feeling this warmth in my chest since we got here, and the warmth just now felt like it exploded into fire for a split second before it seemed to become… something else." She had paused and Heba raised a brow in confusion but Jou's eyes deepened in worry and understanding.

Jou glanced at Heba for a split second as he smiled in reassurance to his little sister, even though she couldn't see it, and forced out jovially, "It's alright Shizuka, I have dat problem all da time. I've been feelin' it fer years, dough da chest warmth is new." Shizuka seemed to find reassurance in her brother's words as Jou continued on the path. Heba considered asking what that was all about, but one look at Jou's tight-lipped expression and terrified eyes and he knew it would be best not to, so he changed the subject to a more neutral topic.

Jou cruised in his hummer next to Heba for a little while as he slowly calmed down, while he, Heba, and Shizuka chatted together for a few minutes; Otogi had taken Heba's seat next to Honda in the truck up front. They all talked for a little while until they noticed that the vehicles up front had come to a stop. Heba stared at them in confusion, he was sure that they wouldn't meet the next landmark until another half an hour, and Jou looked at Heba curiously as he questioned, "What's dat all 'bout?"

Heba shrugged, totally clueless, as he answered back just as curiously, "I don't know. The next landmark shouldn't be appearing for another half an hour."

All of the cars by now had rolled to a stop and Jou got out of the car with a protective, "Stay here," to Shizuka, as he exited the hummer to walk with Heba towards the front of the convoy to see what the holdup was.

* * *

_**~~Yami Mutou~~**_

Yami had just finished disassembling the last two Golden Pieces, causing his crimson-eyes to gleam in triumph, when he felt the truck roll to a stop and heard Otogi and Honda both make sounds of awe from up front. Sliding the partition to the front of the truck he stared out in curiosity; in front of their truck, was a giant crevice stretching from one side of the cavern to the other with no way to get around. The remains of an ancient bridge was in front of them, but it appeared to have collapsed inwards, falling into the crevice, several centuries ago. The only other thing in front of them was a giant monolith, the obvious cause for Otogi and Honda's awe; it seemed to span almost as high as the American Statue of Liberty and every inch of it was lovingly and intricately carved. Crimson eyes opened wide in surprised awe, no one was unaffected by the beautiful creation, and Yami pushed open the back of the truck to look for Rebecca in the Drill behind them, remembering her talk about a certain project she had been working on with parts she had acquired from the belongings of the dead crewmembers. The Drill had already parked behind them and Malik was already running towards the stone monolith while Bakura and Rebecca climbed out at a more sedate pace to get a full look at the monolith. Yami waved at her to get her attention and asked her if she had finished her project, to which she proudly replied that she had. Yami asked if he could borrow it, already having seen the gleam of destruction in Bakura's eyes; Rebecca had also noticed it and agreed without a second thought, as she ran towards the Drill to get her latest project.

Yami gratefully took the remote-controlled toy helicopter with the little camera and flash-light attached to it as he began piloting the thing upwards; Rebecca, having set up the recording and transmitting software onto Otogi's laptop, sat up front with Yami, Otogi, and Honda to watch the helicopter's video data. Yami reached the top of the monolith and pressed record as he began doing sweeps around the circumference of the stone statue, before gently guiding the helicopter downwards after every second go-around; making sure he recorded everything.

Sure enough, when Keith had arrived and seen the obvious conclusion to their 'no bridge' problem, he had ordered Bakura to start setting up his explosives at the base of the monolith to make it fall to the other side of the crevice; to form their own bridge using the giant, beautifully carved monolith. Bakura gleefully set to the task, more interested in blowing something up than the piece of history before them.

Yami had just finished the last of the recording and had flown the helicopter into the truck, when Heba and Jou finally made it to the front of the convoy, and Jou sat down heavily on the truck seat next to Honda, just soaking in the magnificence of the stone monolith before them; while Heba stood in front of the glare of the headlights, making his shadow seem to span the length of the monolith itself. Heba, not even noticing the layers of explosives at the base of the monolith and the impatient Bakura with his detonation pump off to the side, was staring up at it in dumb-struck awe and his hands made expressive motions that emphasized his next words, "**Holy Ra! Would you look at the **_**size **_**of this thing! It's got to be at least half a mile high! It must've taken hundreds -pfft- **_**thousands**_," he corrected himself as Bakura grabbed the back of his shirt to drag him backwards, he continued without having noticed, still lost in his awe of the beautiful creation, "**of years to carve this thing!**"

Bakura dropped Heba to the ground behind a somewhat raised outcropping of rock and squatted down beside him for cover; the vehicles back up hurriedly as Bakura pushed down his detonation pump, grinning in mad glee as he watched his explosions go off at the base in a shower of fire and an ear-splitting 'BOOM!' that resonated in everyone's bones. Heba watched in horror as the explosions caused the monolith to topple downwards and crash against the edge of the other side of the crevice. When the dust settled, Bakura turned to him and raised an eyebrow at the disbelieving young man as he retorted in dry humor, "**Hey look, I made a bridge; and it only took me, like what? Ten seconds?**" Heba stared at him in disbelief and Bakura turned away with a shrug as he indifferently said, "**Eleven, tops.**"

* * *

_**~~Heba Mutou~~**_

Heba almost cried at the sight of the downed monolith until he felt a roughly calloused hand land on his shoulder in comfort. He turned to look at Jou with teary amethyst eyes that looked much too wide in his small face, as Jou smiled comfortingly and pulled him towards the truck where his brother waited with him with a surprise. Yami's crimson eyes softened as he regarded his twin and he silently held up the toy helicopter towards Heba; when Heba shook himself out of his stupor, he realized what it was his twin had done for him and he smiled in gratitude, if a little sorrowful that such a great piece of history had been so carelessly destroyed.

Heba didn't think he could walk anymore, so he climbed into the back with his brother to see how his progress with the puzzle had been going. Heba wasn't surprised when he learned that he was done with it, though he congratulated Yami enthusiastically. They passed over the make-shift bridge in regretful silence before Honda suddenly exclaimed on the other side of the partition. Heba opened the partition to ask what had happened, only to let in an icy draft of cold air. Heba was shocked at the sudden shift in temperature and Honda and Otogi both asked for their jackets in their bags. Heba gathered them up and handed them though the partition as Keith called for a stop to gather warmer clothes. Everyone, crew and group, bombarded the truck for their warmer clothes, the cold definitely waking up quite a few of them, as they pulled on jackets, scarves, gloves, and even a parka or two. Malik was absolutely frigid and his teeth were constantly chattering as he cursed in Egyptian, but at least the Drill had a central heater; those in the two jeeps and the truck were miserable in the suddenly icy weather from their vehicles being open-aired.

Deeper into the cavern they went and it just got colder and colder until, to a sudden shock to everyone, they arrived into a cavern filled with snow. Wind blew through it somehow, making the air even colder as Heba looked around in great confusion. _This_, according to his Journal and map calculations,was where their next landmark was supposed to be. Sure enough, Heba saw the two doorways on the other side of the room, each with a different carving above them: the one on the left depicted a warrior woman dressed in an icy white and blue armored dress, complete with cape, while holding a staff that seemed to be made completely out of ice and in the shape of a snowflake at the end, while her waist-length blond hair seemed to flow behind her in an invisible wind from under an ornate headdress, though her eyes made of sapphires never moved as they peeked out of the top of her blue mouth cover; while on the right, the statue depicted a woman dressed in a white and purple gown, and her light gray hair was shaped in the jagged edges of frozen ice was held in place by a purple crown, as she held on icy scepter in her hand while she seemed to regard nothing since she had no eyes. Yami stared at the two while Heba tried to find information on the two statues as Yami muttered, "The Ice Master and the Ice Queen."

Heba looked up to look at his twin in confusion as Yami pointed at the two statues, first the one on the left and then the one on the right, "The Ice Master and the Ice Queen; they're both very high level Duel Monsters."

Heba groaned in the back of his throat as he smacked his head at his stupidity as he replied, "_That's _what they're called? The Journal wouldn't say what their names were, it only called them 'the doorway Guardians of the Hall of the Time Before.' I guess the Time Before would mean the Ice Age, I just never made that connection," Heba once again smacked his head in irritation as he hurriedly gave instructions to Honda, teeth chattering and limbs shivering all the way, to go through the right doorway- Honda didn't want to know what was in the other doorway- according to the Journal; the Ice Queen was the proper doorway, while the Ice Master, as a warrior, held warrior beasts through her doorway.

Honda looked into Heba's serious eyes to make sure that that was where he wanted to go and drove through the Ice Queen's doorway trustingly. When they went through with nothing popping out at them, they all relaxed and Heba smiled widely at his success. Yami, Honda, and Otogi all clapped a hand on Heba's back in pride at the tanned youth as Heba sighed sheepishly, "Well, there went my plan of using that area as a rest stop." Honda and Otogi both looked at him as though he was crazy, but Heba paid them no mind as he looked through his Journal for the next available area to settle in for the night. Luckily, there was a large area, just before a bridge that was only half an hour away from them that was large enough to see to all of their needs.

After they all passed through the doorway, the path led them upwards and the air warmed considerably, allowing everyone to shed their cold-climate clothes. Ten minutes later, they reached a raised passageway that was blocked by a thick wall that had fallen sideways from their right. Everyone stopped once again at the obstacle in front of them as Bakura stood in front of the wall in front of them to regard it thoughtfully. Keith strode up next to him and stated, "**Looks like we have a little bit of a roadblock.**" He turned to Bakura and irritatedly asked, "**What do you think?**"

Bakura held up a stick of dynamite in his hand as he pointed at the roadblock in front of him with it as he replied, "**I could un-roadblock that if I had about two hundred of these motherfuckers. The only problem is that, because of the stone 'bridge' I just blew up, I only have about ten left,**" Bakura mentally ran through his inventory as he continued, "**plus, you know, five of my own; a couple of cherry-bombs. A road flare.**" Keith glared at the white-haired man; Bakura was just making fun of the mans' intelligence and he grinned at him evilly before glancing over at Heba slyly before saying, "**Hey, too bad we don't have some nitroglycerin, right Heba?**" Heba stared at the russet-eyed man with flat purple eyes, unamused.

Malik on the other hand, cackled maniacally at the reminder of their prank and fell over in the seat of his Drill. Keith turned to stare at the Egyptian as he hatefully replied, "**Looks like we're going to have to dig.**"

Malik sat up in his seat with an ecstatic inhale of breath as his eyes lit up and he grinned triumphantly, and he replied in utter delight, "**It will be my pleasure!**" People moved out of the way as the giant Drill moved up towards the roadblock and Bakura covered his ears. A very loud mechanical whirring sounded throughout the tunnel as the giant drill began spinning; Malik shouted at the sound in triumph as he regarded his drill fondly, petting the console inside and making loving sounds towards it. He drove it forward and the tip of the rotating drill penetrated the rock; it broke apart the rock surface for maybe five feet before the Drill had a sudden technical difficulty, showering sparks inside the front seat of the console, making Malik shield his face from the little sparks as the Drill whirred to a stop. The engine backfired in a loud 'POP' as flames shot out of the exhaust pipes to cause the thing to stall. The whole Drill stopped moving as black smoke emanated from its engine; Malik, knowing there was nothing he could do, frustratedly smacked the console in time to his next four words, "You are so stupid!"

Rebecca opened the engine compartment and regarded the inside in puzzlement, as she spoke to herself, "**I don't understand it; I just tuned this thing up this morning.**" Little bits and pieces of spare parts fell out of the compartment as she crawled inside the tiny compartment to find the source of the engine's problem, silently thanking the gods for her small size; not noticing Heba come up behind her to stare at the _very _familiar-looking console of the engine. Rebecca found what she thought to be the problem, the damn engine was brand new and she hadn't had time to get familiar with it yet, as she called out behind her, "**I looks like the rotor's shut! I'm going to have to pull a spare from one of the trucks.**" She seemed to be talking to herself but Heba heard her as she wiggled out of the compartment, only to pull up short as she noticed her crush standing behind her.

Heba smiled uncertainly at her as he asked, "Do you mind if I…?" He gestured towards the console as he looked back at her, uncertain if she might feel that he was encroaching on her immediately shook her head that, no, she didn't mind as she watched him move towards the console with dreamy eyes. Heba cranked a few knobs in quick succession and the Drill made a deep-throated roaring sound and then he smacked the console with a monkey-wrench, causing the engine to kick-start with a rumbling purr. White smoke billowed from the Drill as Rebecca stared at the engine in surprise; it was running in perfect order, everything running smoothly and making all the right sounds.

Malik shrieked out in happiness from the front seat, "**SHE LIVES!**"

Rebecca looked at Heba in wide-eyed surprise as she asked, "What did you do?"

Heba took on an expression of bashful triumph as he replied shyly, "The boiler in here is a Hyumack model P-54 K-13 that was just released fourteen weeks ago. Back at the museum that I worked at, I was in charge of a boiler very similar in model to this one, and I've noticed that the heating core of the whole Hyumack line has always been a little bit temperamental; so sometimes you just got to give it a little smack to get it working again." Heba was smiling at Rebecca's look of interest in the little tidbit of knowledge.

Rebecca looked around covertly as she whispered to Heba in embarrassment, "If you could just keep it to yourself that you were the one to fix the Drill I'd be very grateful. The crewmen aren't impressed with me to begin with and think that I shouldn't have even come along; if it comes out that the translator did my job for me, I'd never live it down." Heba nodded his head in concerned seriousness. Rebecca smiled at him in gratitude before teasing him, "Now get out of here! You're supposed to be translating your Journal in your truck while I do my mechanical skills here." She winked flirtatiously as she quickly leaned upwards to give him a kiss on the cheek. Heba jerked backwards in mortified surprise, but Rebecca caught his arm and replied, "AH! Two for flinching." Heba, having learned his impromptu lesson and praying to never have to go through this with a teenager again, stayed still as Rebecca leaned up to kiss both his cheeks before releasing his arm and making a 'shoo-ing' motion. Malik, who had seen everything through the rearview mirror, began cackling with Bakura as Rebecca made her way to the front of the Drill and took her seat.

Heba made his way back to the truck and uncomfortably accepted the good-natured teasing of Honda and Otogi, both of whom had seen everything through their windshield. Heba was extremely embarrassed at being caught being flirted with by a pre-teen by his new friends but he submitted to their ribbing. A little depressed at the reminder that no one of his age group was even remotely interested in him, Heba let out a small dejected sighed before he opened his Journal to continue with his studies. The Drill burrowed through the thick stone and all the vehicles filed through its resulting tunnel until they reached the end a few minutes later. The drill turned off and they continued with their journey as Heba told Honda that their final stop where they would set up camp would be before they reached the next bridge, and that he would know which one he meant by a strange upside-down lantern-like cone. Honda gave the ok and the Drill fell back into its place behind the truck as they continued onwards.

A good fifteen minutes later, they reached a room illuminated by a glowing green light coming from a chandelier-sized lantern that hung suspended over a large bridge. Honda called out to Heba in the back and when Heba saw the lantern he compared it to the similarly drawn picture in his Journal as he replied, "This is it. It's got to be." The truck rolled to a stop in the large room, it was well chosen as their resting place for the night.

Heba signaled to Keith and Keith shouted out, "**Alright people! This is where we're going to set up camp for the night!**" Sighs of relief could be heard from every vehicle at the signal that soon they would be able to sleep; everyone had been up for at least fifteen hours or more, some with small naps some without, and everyone was exhausted. Still, they would have to set up camp and eat dinner before they could go to sleep and many were just as anxious for food as they were for sleep.

People exited the vehicles to begin unpacking things and the three remaining near the Drill stared up at the brightly glowing lantern as Rebecca asked, "Why is it glowing?"

Malik waved a dismissive hand, lavender eyes closed in a giant yawn as he tiredly replied, "It is a natural phosphorous result." He stifled another yawn as he rubbed an eye to stay awake, the kohl around his eyes still just as perfectly applied as they were over twelve hours ago.

Bakura stood near the edge of camp and glared at the lantern emitting the bright glow as he angrily snarled, "That thing is going to keep me up all night; I know it." The glowing lantern seemed to mock his wish for peaceful sleep as it appeared to glow just a bit brighter.

* * *

**This is half of the chapter that I just wrote; the total was at 24 pages so far, and I was getting a little pissed off that I wasn't finished where I wanted to. So I just broke it in half as a sort-of filler page for you guys so that I could focus on what's going on in the next part; besides, it just seemed like a good place to leave off.**

**Sorry that I didn't put the other characters in for this chapter but don't worry; the next chapter is a filler for information about the characters we have so far cuz of that little bedding-down talk from the movie where everyone spills their guts. So after I'm done with that chapter, I'm going to dedicate the next chapter with the other characters and what they've been doing all this time.**

**Be prepared next chapter for some heart-to-heart talks and explanations, you might even cry; but one thing's for sure, you all will flip out when you find out what they're all there for. (Evil laugh)**

**I always felt it was a shame when Vinny blew up the stone structure and nobody so much as took pictures, so I gave Heba and myself a little present there. Yes, it will be important later; or, at least, I plan on trying to incorporate the footage later.**

**I know this was a bit of a filler chapter but it has important information in it that will be explained and referenced later, so please try to keep that in mind. **

**The antics of this expedition in the movie were always the things I remembered the most so I pretty much felt that I **_**had **_**to add them in, even though I probably could have just skipped the whole thing and gone over them as a series of flashbacks but… I wanted to do it this way instead for a more in-depth description of the circumstances.**

**There are some points in the movie that has flashes of the Atlanteans watching the explorers from afar during these clips, but in mine I decided to leave them out since they would have just introduced themselves at the very beginning. So, I made them too far away to spy on them just yet, and I will be explaining that in Chapter 9. Please be patient with me, I'm already half-way done with the next chapter, Chapter 8; it was supposed to be a single chapter like I said, but it was getting too long for the information, so I cut it in half.**

**Anyways, yes this one is shorter, and yes it's a filler. Please review anyway. Thanks to all of my viewers and reviewers; please review, if you don't review then I can't tell if I'm writing it to your satisfaction: character basis, incorrect information, dissatisfaction with my writing style, etc,etc. I need those kinds of comments as well please; constructive criticism is always a lovely thing, especially since this is my first time writing a fanfic. So… yeah. Please be patient for the next chapter.**


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I, FallTigerKisa, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Neither it's characters, themes, nor plots (no matter how much I would have loved to make it into a yaoi). Nor do I, FallTigerKisa, own Atlantis The Lost Empire.

Please Note: THIS IS RATED M FOR A REASON! Filled with juicy yaoi and hentai goodness and enough lemons to make a roomful of fangirls sigh in bliss (or at least enough to make me satisfied without destroying the plot). Painings:YxYY, AtemuxHeba, SetoxJou, BxR, MxYM, and slight HxO, DMxDMG, SethxKisara, and MokubaxShizuka.

I have since decided that all dialogue will be in Japanese but automatically translated in English, but when the conversations are in English the words will be in English in all "**Bold**", with none of the translated word in parenthesis of course. However, a word written in "**Bold" **with the English translation in (Parenthesis) is in a different language. ~_Italicized~ _with little squiggly lines are mind-to-mind conversations. And to really mess with you all I might just put them both together in which they are mind-to-mind in a different language. I assume you all do not need an example. I'm also adding _Italicized_ as regular thoughts.

This does not include bashing of any kind, I have a high respect for all Yu-Gi-Oh characters (except Bandit Keith A.K.A Rourke) and I based their Atlantis counterparts off of strange connections I made up in my own twisted mind, so please do not get offended if an otherwise good Yu-Gi-Oh character is given a weird Atlantis counterpart, and vice versa.

Also, the perspective will change between characters and I will have their ~~**_Name_**~~ in bold italics between four squiggly lines in the middle of the page. This is in third-person but the perspective will change; the story will follow that person and his/her adventures but still in third-person.

From now on, I have decided that 'the crew' will describe Mai and Keith and the surviving crew on their side; while 'the group' will be the characters you know and love.

WARNING: Every chapter from here on out has offensive language; thank you Yami Bakura. Also has some sexual references.

Please Review! I take all comments; positive or negative, UNLESS they have to do with the yaoi, homosexual thing, in which I have only to say "DON"T LIKE, DON'T READ!" Can't get any simpler than that.

* * *

Ancient Highway to Atlantis, Several Miles under the Atlantic Ocean-Floor

**_~~Heba Mutou~~_**

Bakura had to retract his words when, forty-five minutes later, the thing dimmed enough where barely any of the greenish glow seemed to emanate from it; as though it had been dimmed to its lowest setting without being completely shut off. Everything had been unpacked and Jou had just finished announcing that it was time for dinner. Jou had prepared the ten pots filled with a wonderfully smelling beef stew, complete with carrots, mushrooms, onions, sweet potatoes, peas, and spices added to give it a zesty flavor; Jou had grinned maliciously as Mai's face screwed up in displeasure over the meat-infested stew.

The group congregated together to eat around their two pots much like they had during lunch earlier; the only one who wasn't seated yet was Heba who had gone to give Keith a report of what they were likely to find tomorrow. Yami had Heba's bowl next to him as he worked at trying to figure out how the Pieces were supposed to fit together; so far in the past hour and a half he hadn't managed to put a single piece together with another, and the puzzle was gnawing at him. He wanted, desperately, to connect with the boy again but to be able to do that, he needed to reassemble the puzzle; the only problem was that so far he was drawing up short on the puzzle pieces and it was beginning to irritate him. Talk sprung up around him and he listened with half an ear as he tried to work out the mechanics of the puzzle.

Yami was too engrossed in the Golden Pieces in front of him to notice his twin's approach and therefore wasn't able to warn him about the stealthily sneaking Malik behind him. He did, however, hear the unmistakable sound of a whoopee-cushion going off next to him as Malik fell over to hold his stomach in his laughter at the red-faced Heba who pulled the red piece of rubber from underneath him. The rest of the group just shook their heads at him and rolled their eyes as they all unisoned in aggravation, "_Malik!_" Bakura merely ignored the prank in favor of eating his delicious fare.

Malik pouted at them coquettishly as he replied, "Ah, forgive me. I could not resist." More eye rolls as the group continued eating.

Jou, having noticed the twins' going back to their favorite past time of Journal reading and puzzle solving, scowled at them and called to them, "Oi, I made dis food ta be eaten, not cooled. Put some meat on dem bones you two." Yami and Heba both looked up at their friend as they both put their things away; Heba with an embarrassed flush and Yami with a faintly raised eyebrow at Jou. Jou grinned as he teased them into eating his food, "Aw c'mon guys, ya both look skinny enough as it is. Ya know, if either one' a ya turned sideways an' stuck out his tongue, he'd look like a zipper." Everyone laughed at the horrible analogy, Yami could never be mistaken for a zipper sideways or otherwise, and he raised a challenging brow; but both of them took up their bowl of beef stew to eat.

Rebecca asked, "Hey Heba, don't you ever close that book?"

Everyone else chimed in with questions about his obsession of the Journal, but Honda's was the one he heard, "Yeah, you must have read it a dozen times by now."

Heba nodded sheepishly as he opened the Journal to a certain passage in his book that had been confusing him for a long time now as he explained, "Yeah, but here in this passage there's something here that doesn't make any sense. See, in this passage here," he points to the left side of the page as he continues, "the Sheppard seems to be leading up to something; he calls it the Heart of Atlantis, it could be the power source that the legends refer to, but then it just…," he pauses to regard the next page as he wondered in puzzled bewilderment, "it cuts off. It's almost as though there's a missing page."

Bakura, unimpressed with any mystical power source or some such crap, dryly stared at Heba and remarked snarkily, "Look, kid, relax. We don't get paid overtime." Everyone nodded at this except Shizuka, since she wasn't getting paid at all, who sat in-between her brother and the white-haired demolitionist. Even Yami nodded, though his nod was more out of concern for his twin's obsession with the book than the russet-eyed man's words.

Heba put his book down to take a bite of his stew, sighing over its heavenly taste, and he replied after swallowing, "I know, I know. Sometimes I get a little carried away, but, hey, that's what this is all about, right; discovery, teamwork, adventure." His voice was getting more excited with every word he spoke until he seemed to catch himself as he looked around at the people around him and their sheepish expressions; all except for Yami and Shizuka, who looked at him in encouragement while Shizuka smiled in happy excitement, caught up in Heba's passionate outburst. Heba stared glanced around at his new friends and amended quizzically, "Unless… maybe…. You're just in it for the money?"

Everyone looked at him as though he were insane and replied matter-of-factly, "Money."

Heba smiled sheepishly while he stretched, wincing slightly at the pain in his neck, as he replied tiredly, "Wow, I guess I set myself up for that one."

Honda and Yami both noticed the wince and Honda got up to walk behind the stretching Heba to inquire, "Something wrong with your neck?"

Heba smiled sheepishly as he nodded, not noticing Honda put his hands on either side of head, he replied, "Yeah, I must've hurt it when-," Heba made sounds of startled pain as Honda twisted his head in two consecutive jerks in different direction resulting in two loud '_cracks_' as Heba's neck muscles and vertebrae were righted.

Heba cautiously stretched his neck as Honda asked smugly, "Better?"

Surprisingly, there was no pain, and Heba's eyes opened wide as he replied back gratefully, "Yeah; where'd you learn how to do that?"

Honda went back over to his seat between Jou and Otogi as he nonchalantly replied, "Picked up a few tricks from people I've met in my travels; that particular trick I picked up from an old friend. He's this big-time fisherman and he had learned it from his father."

Jou looked up from his food and questioned, "Who, da fish guy wit' da wild hair? Ryota sometin'," he paused as he tried to remember what his full name was, the freaky guy who had accused him of stealing his fish and then treated them to more a few minutes after chasing him around with a harpoon.

Otogi explained instead of his boyfriend, "Ryota Kajiki. And yeah, that guy. He was interested in dueling you last time we saw him though." Malik, Shizuka, and Bakura all looked at them blankly; Bakura and Malik had left Japan by then and Shizuka hardly ever left the hospital anymore, so they had no idea who they were talking about.

Yami and Rebecca both recognized the name of one of Japan's best duelists, apparently he had won one of the championships while Yami was away and had used his earning to buy a ship to sail the seas searching for his missing father. Everyone that kept up with the dueling informants knew about Ryota Kajiki and the tragic accident that occurred in his childhood; that when he had been out sailing with his father on their houseboat as a teenager, the ship had almost been destroyed in a storm and his father had tied him to the ship's mast to keep him safe while falling overboard himself; Ryota insisted that his father was still alive since, when the storm had passed, he had noticed that one of the life boats had been missing and made it his goal in life to find his father. Yami raised a brow at the connection that Honda, Jou, and Otogi knew the Ocean Duelist as he replied, "The Ocean Duelist Ryota Kajiki, the one that's trying to find his missing father?"

Honda enthusiastically replied, "Yeah him! Anyway, before his father went missing, he had lived on a houseboat and they didn't always have a doctor wherever they went, so they had these old recipes for medicine made from ocean components; the stuff works really well." Yami and Heba decided that it made sense and the rest of the meal passed by with talk and laughter.

* * *

**_~~Yami Mutou~~_**

Yami had given up on his puzzle for the night in lieu of finding some much needed sleep. The group had gotten the space for their camp closest to the bridge as they began expertly setting up their own tents. Yami went to the truck to gather up his and Heba's personal belongings, such as pajamas, sleeping bags, toothbrushes, etc, etc, and had left Heba in charge of pitching up their tent; completely forgetting that Heba hadn't been camping in years. Heba had made such a mess of trying to pitch it up that the OCD in Bakura had had him pitching in to help with the sorry-looking tent.

Bakura roughly pushed the sleeping bag that he had been carrying into Heba's arms, causing Heba to smile sheepishly at Bakura, and set to readjusting his badly-mangled tent as Heba mused, "I guess I'm still a little rusty at this." A snort of derision was heard from the white-haired man, as Heba continued, "I haven't gone camping since… well, since the last time my Grandpa took me." Bakura, dressed in his comfortable nightwear of a white, sleeveless undershirt and black sweatpants, finished with his fixing and grabbed his sleeping bag back up and walked over to his own tent a few tents down from the one Heba and Yami would be sharing. He unrolled it without another word as he began rummaging around in his bag for something.

Rebecca, whose tent was right across from Heba and Yami's, had just finished pitching up her own tent and had heard Heba's comment and curiously asked, "I heard your Grandpa was on the last expedition, but this is my first so I never got to meet him. What was he like?" She was dressed in flannel pajamas with little blond fairies all over it while her hair was all unbound and she had put her glasses on the ground next to her sleeping bag.

Yami walked up just then to their tent and handed Heba his sleeping bag, they both unrolled it inside the tent as Heba answered, reminiscing, "He was like a father to us; our parents died when we were little kids and he took Yami and me in." Yami caught on to the discussion that was going on as he carefully lowered himself onto his sleeping bag and crawled under the tent's arch, chuckling in amusement all the while. Heba turned to him with a questioning look and asked, "What is it?"

Yami, crimson eyes sparkling, replied happily, "Just remembering about the last time we all went camping together like this. We were… nine, I believe?"

Heba's eyes lit up at the reminder before he commented wistfully, "When we first went to Egypt on one of Grandpa's expeditions to excavate an Egyptian tomb."

Yami's face softened, feeling relaxed and warm with the memories, and closed his eyes before remembering something about that trip chuckled in mirth as he reminded Heba, "And that time when you found your spearhead?"

Heba groaned at the reminder and Rebecca, her curiosity peaked, squealed, "What? What happened?" Everyone else in the crew had been silently listening in on the story as they finished their own tent preparations, and quite a few of them were just as interested in the story.

Heba replied in remembered embarrassment, "The three of us were hiking along this river near camp and I saw something shining in the water; it was a genuine spearhead. Well, you'd think that I had just discovered a lost civilization from the way Grandpa carried on about it."

Yami chuckled in remembrance as he retorted, "_He_ was the one who would show it off to everyone on the expedition, instead of you. He was so proud of you and everyone got very annoyed at him always telling the same story over and over again of you finding your spearhead." Heba blushed at the reminder causing Yami to laugh even louder, and other chuckles could be heard from their audience.

Heba coughed into his hand as he amusedly commented, "It wasn't until I was older that I realized that the spearhead was just a compressed shale mixed with iron pyrite that had shattered into an isosceletic triangle."

Malik, who had been on his way back from his trip to get his mysterious bag from the Drill, had heard his last description, and giggled softly at the thought of the resulted stone as he commented aloud, "That is so _cute_." He then continued onwards, dressed completely in his normal sleepwear of a long black shirt and black underwear briefs while still wearing his gold accessories and kohl, towards his own tent next to Bakura's as he smiling in bliss at the thought of possessing such a stone.

Heba decided to give in to his curiosity as he wondered aloud, "Rebecca? Not to be offensive or anything, but how did a teenager get to be the Chief Mechanic of a multi-million dollar expedition?"

Rebecca sat down on her sleeping bag and she rummaged through her own bag as she explained, "Well, I got this job from my own Grandfather; he and Pegasus had gone on expeditions before and he recommended me to him. When Pegasus saw my skills and college degrees he asked me to come along. My own Grandfather was also an explorer and I wanted to see what the big deal was about, and I figured 'Hey, might as well get the highest paying one'. But, what's really funny is that my Grandfather wanted three grandchildren, two grandsons and a granddaughter, to take over his three pursuits in life: engineering, adventuring, and dancing. He got his three grandchildren with me and my two boy cousins, but since I'm into engineering…" she trailed off in amusement as she shrugged.

Yami raised a brow, wondering at her amused smile, as he asked, "So…?"

Rebecca sent them both a quick grin as she found what she had been looking for in her bag of personal belongings and pulled out a stuffed bear dressed in corduroys, as she told them smugly, "My younger cousin, Leon, is obsessed with being the next famous explorer, while my older cousin, Siegfried, is twenty-four with a shot at the European Dance Nationals next month." She rolled her eyes at the stunned expressions from everyone listening; which was everyone in the group.

Yami managed to school his features relatively quickly and was about to say something, when Jou cut in with a choked, "Wow. Just, wow." Bakura just sighed in disgust while Malik rolled in his tent laughing. Honda was trying to contain his laughter and was suddenly glad that Otogi had gone into the hummer to charge his laptop, or else his boyfriend would have been and might have insulted the pre-teen. Speaking of the raven-haired rogue, he got out of the hummer and walked by everyone's tents to get to the one he shared with his boyfriend. Yami and Heba both noticed that he was still dressed in his normal clothes and Heba questioned, "Forget you pajamas, Otogi?" Yami wanted to facepalm himself at his twins' obliviousness, but instead settled for waiting for the blush that was sure to show up on his twin's face in just a moment.

Sure enough, Otogi sent Heba and amused grin as he replied with a waggle of his black brows, "I sleep in the nude." Heba's face exploded with heat causing Yami to burst out laughing. Honda groaned at his boyfriend in annoyance while Malik and Bakura snickered at their tents. Jou was grinning while he held his hands over Shizuka's ears and Rebecca's face also grew very red.

Jou, dressed in a pair of green boxers and a white undershirt, threw over a packet of something that landed on Heba's sleeping bag. He then turned back to Shizuka, who was dressed back into her original pink pajamas, to recover her ears and teasingly explain, "You guys will want a pair' a dose; dey're _loud_." Yami saw that Jou had thrown them a packet of earplugs and he laughed even harder; he grabbed a set, as did a red-faced Heba, before tossing them over to a blushing Rebecca.

Bakura, having found his own earplugs in his bag, set them to the side and laid down to look up at the ceiling, and replied, "Well, as far as I go, I just like to blow things up."

Honda left his tent to tower over Bakura and interrupt his view as he amusedly said, "C'mon Bakura, tell the guys the truth."

Bakura glared at him as Honda went back to his tent before laying his head back down in defeat, "My parents used to own a tea shop; he was one of those British tea fanatics and met my mom at a Tea Ceremony class, and, dun-dun, they fucked each other to make little ol' me. The shop would sell green teas, oolong teas, herbal teas, you name it. Years later, I'm on the streets doing this robbery on this rich bastards' house- you know, the kind of rich bastards that have all of these old-as-shit cars and jewels from fuckin' royalty and shit- but the guy that was supposed to help with the power tools to actually _break in_ didn't show, so I had alarms and cameras and shit to deal with all on my own; it was a fuckin' mess." He pressed a hand to his face at the remembered robbery with a fierce grimace, before he pulled it away to continue his story. "Anyway, I managed to disable the alarms and cameras through sheer good luck, and I was using a saw to cut through the metal lock; I guess there was this leak from the fuel line from one of the antique cars on the other side and _BOOM!_ the whole fucking room exploded. I was thrown clear across the room." He got a lighter out of his pocket and lit it to stare into the mesmerizing flames as he continued, "It was like a sign from the gods; I found myself that boom." Yami, Heba, and Rebecca all stared at him for a moment, just soaking in what he had said, before a familiar _'chinking'_ noise in the tent next to Bakura caught their attention.

Everyone's eyes turned to Malik who had dragged his open sleeping bag out of his tent and had hoisted his mysterious bag onto his shoulder and leaned over the opened sleeping bag; metal coins rained down onto his opened sleeping bag with metal '_chinking_' sounds as he shook the main opening of his bag to make sure he got all of them. He then opened the smaller pouches of the bag to pull out jewel-encrusted items of jewelry: necklaces, rings, bracelets, hair ornaments, etc, etc, and placed them all onto his opened sleeping bag before laying down in the piles of monetary wealth and zipped his sleeping bag up with a contented cackle. Yami, Heba, and Rebecca gaped at the Egyptian in stunned disbelief while his friends just shook their heads at their strange friend. Yami looked over at Bakura and asked, "What in the hell was that?"

Bakura shook his head and crawled into his sleeping bag to sleep, completely ignoring Yami's question. Jou opened his mouth to reply but Honda pointed a finger at him for silence and said hurriedly, "You guys don't want to know. Jou, don't tell them. Malik shouldn't have told us, but he did; and now I'm telling you three that you all don't want to know." To discourage anymore talk on the matter, Honda blew out the last candle and called out a hurried, "Goodnight!"

Jou shook his head at his friend as he lit his own candle so that he could continue to speak to his new friends; Shizuka had gone to sleep beside him several minutes ago. Honey-amber eyes turned to the three and said, "Honda's right, ya probably won't wanna know; how 'bout we talk 'bout somethin' else?"

Yami thought for a moment before he asked, "You went on this expedition to pay for an eye operation on Shizuka, didn't you." Jou glanced down at his little sister and smiled down at her tenderly as he nodded at Yami's question. Now Yami felt really guilty that he had lost that damn check; Shizuka so obviously needed the operation and she was so sweet. She never complained and was always inquiring if any help that she could give was required; she was like an angel, and everyone obviously adored her. If anyone should have all the money from his check, it should be her. Yami sighed silently in regret before shaking off the feeling before he was filled with a determination to help her when they got back to the surface. Yami wasn't one to cry over spilled milk, and instead worked to fix the problems at hand so that he never made the same mistake twice; it was what made him such a good gamer, the skill to improvise and improve past strategies within seconds was what gave him his legendary cunning. Deciding to continue with that line of questioning, Yami asked, "Do you know why everyone else is here?"

Jou looked thoughtful as ran the possibilities through his mind, as he reached his final conclusions, "Bakura, I'm pretty sure, is plannin' on openin' his own tea shop." A 'humph' of what could be agreement was heard from Bakura's tent, and Jou grinned for a moment before continuing, "Malik's trickier. Ya saw da pile' a treasure he's sleepin' wit' right?" Heba, Yami, and Rebecca all nodded in interest, and Jou continued, "Well, dose are all coins from each an' every known government in da world; if it was a sanctioned as metal money, Malik has it, an' not all' a dem were acquired legally, if ya catch ma meanin'." They did, and Heba and Rebecca's eyes grew wider. Jou continued, "All' a dose jewelry an' hair pins an' stuff are each from a different form' a royalty. See, Malik's got dis ting fer jewels, an' he went aroun' da world searchin' fer a piece' a jewelry from a royal sometin'-or-odder in _every _monarchy in da world!" All of their eyes widened at Malik's exploits as Jou continued in a rush, "English royalty, French royalty, Chinese royalty, Egyptian royalty, Aztec royalty, royalty from da African Nations, he's got dem all! I wouldn't be surprised if he has frickin' _Inuit _royalty jewels, if dey even _have _jewels. One ting is fer certain dough, if dere's a piece' a jewelry down here from _Atlantis _royalty, Malik'll be all over dat shit; you can count on it. I tink he's jus' here for da chance ta finish his collection; dat's why I tink he's down here."

They all nodded, it made sense, although Yami was a little skeptical that Malik had managed to collect a form of jewelry from _every _royal culture; that seemed like Malik would have _a lot _of people after him. Yami then recalled the last two of their group as he questioned, "And Honda and Otogi? Honda's a pretty competent doctor, they should have more than enough money to live off of; why are the two of them down here?"

Jou flicked his gaze towards their tent for a split second in indecision, he knew why the two of them were here but the information was not something you just handed around; but then he remembered that Yami was bisexual and that he might find interest in it too someday. So with that thought in mind, Jou was about to answer when Honda relit the candle and replied peevishly, "If you guys aren't going to go to sleep, we might as well continue talking." Otogi could be heard sleepily groaning in frustration as he turned over in his sleep at the loss of Honda's body-warmth as Honda crawled to the tent opening and popped his head out to watch the rest of them. He sighed as he answered Yami's question, "The reason Ryuji and I took this job is because we both need the money for a medical procedure." At the three's looks of confusion, Honda replied, "There's this new trial procedure that Ryuji and I really want to do, but it's so expensive that it will take both of our paychecks for this expedition to pay for it. See, we both want a kid." At their surprised expressions he defensively said, "Me and Ryuji both lived in an orphanage for a time, and sure, there are always those kids that need people to adopt them, but Ryuji and I both want a kid that's purely _ours_; not adopted, and not only one of ours through artificial insemination through a surrogate mother. Ours in every way; but since both of us are males, we don't exactly have the proper equipment for the mixing of DNA. This new procedure actually removes the DNA inside some woman's egg and injects it with the modified chromosomes of one of the donor's modified DNA so that it will bond properly with the egg, and then they artificially fertilize the egg in the normal way." They all gaped at Honda in astonishment; even Bakura, who had been silently listening in, sat up to stare at his friend in shock.

Yami was the first to break the silence as he whispered, "They can do that now?" Honda nodded and Yami's brain raced with the medical possibilities of this new medical development. Yami didn't hear the next few questions that Heba and Rebecca asked Honda.

A few more minutes of questions and Bakura called over to them, "Let's change the subject, shall we? All this talk of scientific fuckin' miracles is starting to fuck with my brain."

Honda silently agreed as he asked, "What should we talk about then?"

Bakura opened his mouth to make a sarcastic reply when Rebecca beat him to it and said, "Romantic interests!" Bakura snorted at the typical female response while Heba blushed in mortification, knowing this was just a ploy from Rebecca to see how good her chances with him were; she was obviously not taking into account the fact that, even if Heba _was _interested in her like that- which he wasn't- then he could be arrested as a pedophile.

Honda chuckled quietly as he replied, "You all know what my type of man is. What about you Jou? What are _your _romantic requirements?"

Jou was startled at being put in the sudden spot-light before he frowned in thought. After a few moments of thinking he said, "Not bein' a bitch fer one; dat's a definite requirement." He sent a disgusted glare towards the direction of Keith and Mai's tents as he said that; but then he answered seriously, "Someone dat's tall. I've dated short women before an' it's a huge pain in da ass ta hafta bend down all dat way fer a kiss. Besides, long legs are _really _sexy." He seemed to drool at the thought for a moment before he noticed who he was talking to and sheepishly grinned as he apologized, "Nothin' against you short people, it's jus' dat when yer as tall as me den ya can't really have a short partner without havin' a perpetual crick in da neck."

Heba was about to give him a droll answer, but Yami beat him to it and teased in amusement, "Jeez Jou, and here I thought we had such great potential." Bakura and Honda both fell into choked laughter at the startled look on Jou's face; everyone completely missed the look of astonishment Heba gave his twin. Jou relaxed as he realized that Yami was just teasing him and glared him playfully, as Yami replied more seriously, "It's alright to have your preferences on height differences; beside's you're not my type either."

Jou rolled his eyes at Yami's teasing as he remarked, "Ya know, you can be a real pain, did'ja know dat?" Yami merely grinned at him in reply and Jou took on a thoughtful quality as he spoke his thoughts aloud, "I tink dat even if da person was a man, he'd still have ta be tall fer me."

Bakura and Honda both raised an eyebrow at the thought of the blond being with a guy before Honda questioned, "Preferences in appearances? Hair color, eye color?"

Jou shook his head as he replied, "Don't care 'bout what dey look like jus' so long as deir wild in bed." Rebecca and Heba both clapped their hands over their ears in embarrassment, while Yami, Bakura, and Honda all raised a brow at the blond. Seeing their expressions he questioned defensively, "What? Have any' a you been wit' a date dat jus' _laid _dere and didn't participate at all in da nitty-gritty parts? It's completely boring! I want a partner dat wants a lot' a sex and isn't afraid ta unleash in da bedroom; someone who's passionate an' likes it a little rough."

Bakura rolled his eyes as he pointed out, "Aren't you _so _glad that your sister is fast asleep for this conversation?" Jou grinned at him in answer. Honda shook his head at his best friend and the amount of information that he did _not _need to know.

Yami turned to the one who had spoken and asked, "What about you, Bakura? What's your ideal in a man?"

Bakura narrowed his russet eyes in irritation at the man, but he relented with a small sigh as he considered the question. "Someone the opposite of Jou's ideal. Someone small and soft; gentle, like Shizuka." At their looks of astonishment, Bakura bristled, "What? Can't I want someone with a little gentleness to them?" He almost spit it out as his eyes flashed dangerously.

Yami held up his hands as he soothed, "We were more expecting you to describe someone else; Shizuka definitely wasn't on the list of possible love interests I would have assumed for you, Bakura." Jou paled at the thought of his beloved little sister with the psychopathic demolitionist and he unconsciously scooted his body closer to protect her.

Bakura scowled at Yami as he caustically replied, "Someone _like _Shizuka, not Shizuka herself, you dumbass. I'm gay, I only like guys; I'm just saying that I want a gentle guy that's warm and sweet like Shizuka." He assumed a far-off expression as he mused, "She is pure and untainted by the evil of this world, and even though she's been exposed to what fate can dish out, she still remains sweet and kind, untouched by the world's darkness. I want a guy like that, someone who has looked hardship in the face and is still able to see the good in life. That's why everyone adores her." Everyone was shocked at the almost poetic words that were coming out of Bakura's mouth until he pegged Rebecca with a harsh stare as he replied, "Well? Why don't you go ahead and tell us _your _type so we can move on from this idiotic line of questioning."

Rebecca ecstatically jumped into a lengthy description that described Heba to a T, but was interrupted by a loud yawn coming from Malik's tent. They had been conversing for a good hour and a half and Malik had to go to the bathroom. After he came back from doing his business and heard what the others' were discussing, he jumped into the conversation, effectively cutting off Rebecca. "I want a _man_, dammit. Someone to dominate me and play all sorts of naughty games with." Rebecca scrunched her face up in confusion of the innuendo she could sense but couldn't understand, while Heba's face went bright red in understanding _exactly _what he was talking about. Malik sent those two a mischievous wink as he sung Rihanna's _"S&M" _aloud, "**_Cause I may be bad, but I'm perfectly good at it_****_, Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it, Sticks and stones may break my bones, But chains and whips excite me_**." Rebecca's face exploded with heat as she finally understood what Malik was talking about while Heba groaned in embarrassment.

Bakura, Honda, and Jou weren't surprised by their friends' ideal man, they had heard him go off on his 'perfect-man' drunken rants; but it was Yami who spoke dryly, "Why am I not surprised that it would be Malik that's interested in the kinky shit?"

Bakura and Jou snickered at his dry comment as Malik scowled at the crimson-eyed King of Games, and tartly replied, "Oh? This coming from the guy that decks himself out in leather, really?" Most the guys started to laugh silently, trying to be quiet so that they didn't wake anyone up.

Yami replied back easily, "The leather is only because they're comfortable to wear in any weather; and besides, I look hot in them." Everyone had to agree on that.

Malik waved a hand dismissively as he asked, "Alright, fine Mr. Yummy-Stud-in-Buff-Leather." More laughter was choked back at Malik's teasing as crimson eyes narrowed at the Egyptian, threatening retaliation, as Malik continued, "Fine then, what's _your _ideal?" Heba abruptly stopped laughing as his amethyst gaze flew to his brother's face in paling concern, but Heba was shocked to see very little pain in his twin's eyes.

Yami waited for the soul-eating pain to engulf his heart, but he was surprised to feel only a slight twinge in the vicinity of his heart; and he knew, without a doubt, that it was thanks to his little Heba-look-alike. He took a moment to relish the feeling of being freed from the pain of a dead woman's death and felt that, for the first time in the last three years, he would finally be able to move on. Realizing that the others were waiting for his answer, he answered truthfully, "I would have to say that my ideal is small and innocent with wide eyes and a beautiful soul."

Heba stared at him in shock before blurting out, "Did you find someone new?"

Everyone looked at the twins in puzzlement as Yami laid his chin unto his crossed arms as he playfully replied, "Maybe." Tears sprung up in amethyst eyes in happiness at his brother's lightheartedness, joyful that his twin was finally out from his three year long spell of depression; he hadn't seen his brothers' face filled with so much light in what felt like forever. Yami noticed the unshed tears and reached up to lay a hand against his brother's shoulder in silent comfort. Heba wiped his tears away as he smiled beatifically at his twin.

Heads looked between the two in puzzlement before the dense pre-teen asked, "New? Were you seeing someone before?"

Yami turned back to them and replied, "When Heba and I were growing up we only had one friend, Anzu Mazaki. When we were seventeen we got engaged but she died three years ago." Their eyes went wide at the unexpected answer and they stared at him in sympathy.

Rebecca gaped at him in shock as she said, "Anzu Mazaki? _The _Anzu Mazaki, the one that climbed up through the dancer world and was pronounced a pro at only nineteen years old; the famous dancing protégé? _That _Anzu Mazaki?" Sadness sparked in Yami's eyes as he recalled his lost fiancé, but the grief was dulled to almost nothing; it no longer had the power to cut him. It was more like he was talking about a friendly acquaintance that he felt sorry had died and missed them, but their life continued on without them there; Yami was even more grateful to the strange boy that his soul had recognized. He nodded at Rebecca's question as he noticed that Heba was trying to keep back the tears of grief for his dead childhood friend and almost-sister-in-law. Rebecca, not even noticing Heba's reaction, wondered aloud, "But nobody ever mentioned Anzu Mazaki being engaged, or even having a boyfriend! My cousin Siegfried collected all of her magazines and news articles; she was one of his top idols."

Yami explained, "She had a friend warn her about the possibility of the press trying to dig up whatever they could on her and her loved ones so she asked me to keep it a secret."

Rebecca nodded in understanding before suddenly paling as horror and sympathy swept through her as she remembered something. "She committed suicide, though."

Yami and Heba both flinched at the reminder as Yami remembered pain of a different kind; he hadn't just lost his best friend and lover that day, he had lost three people he loved in that one day. Memories flashed of Anzu, her blue eyes concerned, as she regarded a horoscope calendar in front of her; it foretold of a bad day ahead of her and the possibility of a serious injury, and she had a major dance to do that night. Yami recalled urging her to follow her dream, to damn the stupid fortune and make her own luck and that if anything were to happen to her then he would be there to help her pick up the pieces. He remembered a few hours later getting the call from the police, saying his fiancé had been rushed to the hospital when she landed one of her moves wrong and seriously injured her spine. When he arrived, she had already been given a sedative since she had been freaking out about the fact that she couldn't feel her legs; she had broken a disk in her spinal cord that made her paralyzed from the waist down, the doctors had told him. He had stayed with her all night, worried out of his mind, but then his Grandpa had been rushed to the same hospital for having a heart attack; he left her for half an hour to check up on his Grandpa, only to find out that he had died enroute to the hospital and spent a good twenty minutes comforting and being comforted by his twin. When he returned to her room, his mind was full of grief and he was wishing that she was awake so that they could comfort each other; only to discover an empty bed and an open window, curtains blowing in the night air. While he wasn't there, she had discovered her chart and learned that she was incapable of dancing anymore and decided that losing her dream was too high a price to bear, and she dragged herself to the window and threw herself out of it. Yami had lost almost everything that night: his best friend, his fiancé, his Grandpa and confident, the only parental figure he had ever known, his faith, his hopes, his dreams, his love, and the very foundation of his soul; the only thing that he hadn't lost was his twin, which was why Yami treasured him so much.

Melancholy, lost in his own thoughts, Yami explained, "She had a show to do and landed one of her moves too hard and injured her spine; the doctors said she would never walk again. Then our Grandpa was taken to the same hospital from suffering a heart attack; he had died in the ambulance and Heba and I were comforting each other when she must've woken up. Dancing was her life, and I guess the thought of never being able to dance ever again was too much for her to bear. When I got back to her room it was empty and the windows were open; she had dragged herself up to the windowsill and dropped the six stories down. I lost three of the people I loved most in the world that night."

Everyone gaped at Yami in horror at the pain that he had lived through as Bakura said, "Damn, that fuckin' sucks." Honda and Jou glared at him for the inadequate tone but Yami didn't mind; he had seen a pain nearly as deep as his own inside Bakura's russet-colored eyes, and he knew instinctively that Bakura had lived an even harsher life than him. Yami knew that he and Bakura were cut from the same cloth and had both been burned with the cruelty of lifes' hardships; which was probably why they couldn't stand each other, they were too much alike deep inside, right down to the need for an innocent life partner. They shared a brief glance of understanding until Bakura looked away with a grimace and crawled back under his tent to finally go to sleep.

Rebecca was confused though and said, "Three? But only your Grandpa and Anzu died, right?"

Heba winced and Yami's eyes flared with remembered pain at the insensitive coroner's words, "One of the hospital aides accidentally told me, thinking that I was Heba, that when they did her autopsy, they discovered that she was six weeks pregnant." Rebecca put a hand to her mouth in horror as tears pricked her eyes while Honda and Jou both paled at their friends' words. Respect for the man's courage skyrocketed in those listening and even Malik's eyes lost their particular mischievous shine to stare at Yami in sympathy. Bakura flinched under his sleeping bag as he heard Yami's words.

Yami noticed all of their reactions and hurriedly said, "Don't worry about it, you guys! It's been three years since they died; and besides, I think I found someone." Sets of eyes blinked in surprise before several relieved smiles broke out from concerned faces.

Rebecca remarked thoughtfully, "Oh yeah, you did say that your type was small and innocent didn't you? I remember seeing from her pictures that Anzu was rather tall and was full of self-confidence."

Yami nodded in remembered happiness as he pictured the strange boy he had seen. His brother asked, "So where did you meet this new person of yours'?" He was very interested in whoever had managed to heal his brother's broken heart. Almost without thinking of it, Heba rubbed a hand across his chest at the warmth inside that he barely even noticed. Yami noticed the movement however, and realized that he had been doing the same thing all day, as had a few of his friends.

Yami focused on his brother's sternum with narrowed eyes as he asked, "Is your chest bothering you?"

Heba, Bakura, Malik, and Jou all looked up in surprise, thinking he was talking to them and Yami noticed their reactions as well. Honda glanced at Heba as he considered multiple chest diagnosis' that immediately went through his brain as he asked, "How long has it been bothering you? What are the symptoms?"

Heba, embarrassed at the attention, truthfully replied, "It's just a warmth in my chest; I've been feeling it since we reached the air pocket. I wasn't paying it much attention, it doesn't hurt or anything, it's just a noticeable warmth." Jou, Malik, Bakura, and Yami all listened to this description in interest; each of them had been feeling the same thing in their own chests for just as long.

Jou raised a hand and told Honda, "If it's a sickness goin' 'round den I tink I have it too; so does Shizuka, she asked if I was feelin' it earlier today, and when I asked her what she was talkin' 'bout she said it was 'bout da warmth in her chest. It wasn't botherin' me much until when we were in da car, an' ma…," here he shut his mouth as he glanced at Heba, Yami, and Rebecca uncertainly. Heba's mind flashed to the memory of speaking with Jou when his eyes suddenly got all panicked and he and Shizuka began talking about having _felt _something else, before Jou disregarded it as saying that he had had felt it for all his life. The same memory where Heba had thought he had seen Jou's eyes flash red for a split second.

Jou whispered something in Honda's ear and Honda's brows raised in surprise as he exclaimed, "But you've had control over that for years now! I thought it had gone away by now!"

Jou replied worriedly, "So did I! But it suddenly showed up all over again, I _felt _it again while I was driving about halfway into da trail but it calmed back down within a few seconds; it just startled da hell out' a me." He glanced at Heba and Heba looked over at him in concern, sure that he was talking about the same thing he had been thinking about.

Heba asked, "What are you guys talking about?" He was afraid for his blonde friend if this was serious. But Honda didn't seem to think of whatever it was as anything serious, especially since, from what Jou had said, that he had had it for years.

Honda stared into Jou's eyes as Jou contemplated telling them before reaching the decision to trust them, he replied, "Well, ever since I was little, sometimes I could feel _sometin' _inside me dat made ma anger much worse, cuz' whenever I was angry _it _was angry. I used ta tink dat I was possessed wit' a demon, cuz whenever I felt it wake up inside' a me, people told me dat ma eye's glowed red." They all stared at Jou in surprise as Heba blinked in shock- so it hadn't been a figment of his imagination- and not a little bit of concern as he continued, "As I got better control ova ma anger, it seemed ta go away on its' own an' it's been a few years since I felt da ting; but while I was drivin' 'bout halfway trough da trail, it suddenly flared up again inside me wit' absolutely _no _provocation! Heba, I'm sure ya noticed it, didn't ya?"

Heba nodded emphatically as he saw Jou look down in dread, and he replied, "You pulled the car over and your eyes went all panicky; I thought I saw them turn red for a moment, but I thought it was just a trick of the light."

Honda and Jou shook their heads as Jou replied, "Den Shizuka asked if I had felt it too."

Heba said inquiringly, "Honda knows about it but Shizuka didn't?"

Jou looked up and his face reflected anger at some thought as he angrily replied, "Da ting inside me would lash out at anyone, it's made me hurt Honda before too, so wheneva I felt it coming 'round when Shizuka was dere I left da room as fast as I could. I would rader kill maself den let da ting inside me hurt her!" Honda clapped a hand onto Jou's shoulder as terror welled up in Jou's eyes at the thought of seriously hurting his sister.

Rebecca, Yami, and Heba all looked at him in concern but a snarky voice called out, "Not that this isn't _fascinating _but what does this have to do with the warmth in your chest that you and Shizuka have been feeling."

Angry sets of eyes regarded Bakura for his rudeness and Jou almost shouted at him but Shizuka, in her sleep, curled up tighter to her brother causing him to remember that she was there; so he calmed himself and decided to take the opening, "Cuz' wheneva da ting began ta stir, I would feel dis flash' a fire in ma chest- Shizuka described it perfectly today- an' it seems similar ta da warmth in ma chest, so I was worried."

Bakura raised a brow and said, "Similar, but not the same?" Malik, Yami, and Heba all turned to look at their friend in interest at the answer.

Jou looked thoughtful as he reached down to pet his sister's hair and replied seriously, "No, not da same. Da warmth in ma chest only showed up since da air pocket, like Heba said. I tought at first dat it was just some indigestion, so I jus' disregarded da feelin'; until I felt da ting in da car an' Shizuka said dat she was feelin' it too." Now he suddenly up in worry as he asked, "Ya don't tink it means dat Shizuka is goin' ta get da ting too, do ya?"

Everyone shook their heads but it was Bakura who dryly replied, "Well, if the warmth in the chest means that we're going to suddenly become demons then you should be more worried about me. I feel it too."

Jou, Honda, and Rebecca all looked at him in surprise until Malik raised a hand and said, "Me too." His eyes sparkled as he wickedly replied, "If I suddenly turn into a demon, then can I eat Keith first?" Everyone got over their momentary shock to laugh at the thought of a mischievous Egyptian monster devouring a cowering Keith.

Bakura scowled playfully at him as he replied, "You mean I only get to eat the slut? Damn, she's going to poison me with all her perfume crap!" Everyone choked on their laughter as they tried to stay quiet so they didn't wake their friends up. Tears poured from Malik's eyes as he sought to contain his loud laughter so that all that emerged were choked gasps and raspy cackles.

Yami got his laughter under control first and thought about the warmth in his chest and hazarded a guess that it had something to do with his little Heba-look-alike. Deciding to test the theory out, he asked Rebecca, "So, you don't feel as though you're about to turn into a demon?" At her startled look of being addressed, he clarified, "No warmth in the chest?" Rebecca shook her head. Yami turned to Honda, "And you?" Another shake of the head, and Honda gained a thoughtful look on his face, wondering if it was just a sickness or something else.

Heba chimed in, "I've been feeling it since the air pocket but it's easily ignorable." Bakura, Malik, and Jou all made sounds of assent and Honda ran through several possibilities through his mind of what the cause could be.

Yami surprised them all by saying, "It feels as though you're not alone in your own skin anymore, doesn't it?" Four sets of eyes looked at him in shock before they nodded at him.

Flabbergasted, Heba asked his twin, "You feel it too?"

Yami nodded as he stated, "Since the air pocket, yes. But I've been feeling something else since the submarine."

Everyone waited in impatient expectancy for him to continue, but he just gained a thoughtful look on his face as he lay down to sleep. Malik and Bakura, outraged that he wouldn't say anything more, angrily demanded, "WELL?!"

Heba and Jou were also impatient for his answer, but both of them knew better than to try to force an answer out of him. Surprisingly, Yami answered, "I have a theory, but I'll tell you in the morning. We have all day tomorrow to talk, but very few hours left to sleep; so, go to sleep. We all need sleep for tomorrow if we're going to reach Atlantis." And with that, he rolled over and closed his eyes to sleep.

Heba was shocked; that was perhaps the first time in three years that Yami had referred to Atlantis with anything other than a derisive tone of voice. If anything, Yami had sounded hopeful and filled with… dare he say, longing? Tears of joy came to Heba's eyes at his brother's returned enthusiasm and decided that his answer could wait for the morning; so with that he lay down beside his twin in his own sleeping bag and closed his eyes to sleep.

Rebecca was curious, but since it didn't matter to her, she decided that she needed her beauty sleep and cuddled with her stuffed bear and went to sleep as well. Jou sighed, but decided that Yami had a point. So he blew out his light and curled himself protectively around his little sister and went to sleep. Honda did the same with his light and went back to sleep in his boyfriend's arms.

Malik and Bakura however were still pissed of at Yami's refusal to tell them; they felt that they ought to know dammit! They wanted to go over to Yami and shake the answer out of him, but with all the lights extinguished they found that they were too lazy to get out of their sleeping bags to go poking around in the dark in the hopes that they would actually find Yami to give him a good thrashing. So, with angry grumblings, they both lay down to get some shut-eye.

The only light in the room emanated from the glowing green lantern, which was dimmed so low that no one saw the stealthily sneaking shadows that creeped into the room from the path the explorers had come from.

* * *

**There, see? I told you all that it was mostly a filler chapter. This chapter and the chapter before, Chapter 7, were supposed to be one whole chapter, but it got a little too long when in reached twenty-four pages. So, last night, I cut it in half and published Chapter 7 with the explanation in there. Twelve pages in Chapter 7 and seventeen in this one, whew! I'm going to have arthritis by the time I'm thirty, DAMN!**

**I always have fun putting in Malik's antics XD! He's just so fun to have as a character, as is Bakura's snarkiness.**

**I was originally going to give them some chili for dinner, but I was craving beef stew last night and it somehow made it's way into my story ^-^' **

**Yay! I got to indirectly put in more Yugioh characters! I especially loved putting in Ryota Kajiki (Mako Tsunami) since I felt that it wasn't a true Atlantis story without the Sea guy! I always loved him, and I decided to give him his dream of owning his boat ^0^.**

**By the way, for those of you who will understand, the fairies on Rebecca's pajamas are the Duel Monster Ties of Friendship; I was reading her biography and found those in there. The same goes with her stuffed bear. ^_^**

**I finally got to put in Malik's jewels! I'd been waiting forever to put those in there XD! The same goes for Bakura's tea shop, hee-hee.**

**Now you all know what I meant when I was talking about MPreg in there; the procedure that Honda and Otogi want to do is something I always thought should be possible from the time I saw the first Jurassic Park movie, so I decided to put it in there. I don't know if it's actually possible to do -geneticist I am not- but I think that it should be a relatively possible concept, at least.**

**I was originally planning on making Rebecca's character be Anzu but I just couldn't see it. Besides, I needed a good excuse for Yami to be so disillusioned about life and I decided that Anzu was perfect. Before I ever discovered yaoi, I thought Anzu and Yami would make a good couple; then I discovered Yaoi and can't bear the thought ^-^. Oh well. I'm sure there are a lot of you that will be glad that Anzu is dead; now I don't even have to include her in the series as an actual character, so YAY! I felt bad about having Yami lose his baby too, but I needed that extra icing for the cake. Sorry Yami TT_TT!**

**I do not own Rihanna's S&M song, that belongs purely to her. I watched Pitch Perfect recently and had it in my head when I was writing this scene, so I put it in for Malik; it fits him anyway XD!**

**As I mentioned in the previous chapter, the next chapter will be all about the Atlantean characters and what they've been doing since Chapter 6; the next chapter basically runs parallel with the time frame of Chapters 7 and 8.**

**Thanks to all of my viewers and reviewers; please review, if you don't review then I can't tell if I'm writing it to your satisfaction: character basis, incorrect information, dissatisfaction with my writing style, etc,etc. I need those kinds of comments as well please; constructive criticism is always a lovely thing, especially since this is my first time writing a fanfic. So… yeah. Please be patient for the next chapter. ****See you guys next chapter! **


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I, FallTigerKisa, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Neither it's characters, themes, nor plots (no matter how much I would have loved to make it into a yaoi). Nor do I, FallTigerKisa, own Atlantis The Lost Empire.

I have since decided that all dialogue will be in Japanese but automatically translated in English, but when the conversations are in English the words will be in English in all "**Bold**", with none of the translated word in parenthesis of course. However, a word written in "**Bold"**with the English translation in (Parenthesis) is in a different language. ~_Italicized~_with little squiggly lines are mind-to-mind conversations. And to really mess with you all I might just put them both together in which they are mind-to-mind in a different language. I assume you all do not need an example. I'm also adding _Italicized_ as regular thoughts.

From now on, I have decided that 'the crew' will describe Mai and Keith and the surviving crew on their side; while 'the group' will be the characters you know and love.

WARNING: Every chapter from here on out has offensive language; thank you Yami Bakura. Also has some sexual references. I will warn you all when it is time for lemons.

I just got fed up with all my page space being monopolized by crap you all should know by now; if you're still reading my story you should already know all the other stuff from previous chapters anyway.

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Several Miles from the Atlantis Expedition Crew

Child-like, amethyst-colored eyes gazed out from the small rock cave situated near the exit of a raging waterfall. The roar of the falling water was amplified throughout the small cave, but the pale young man with the purple eyes had long since grown used to the sound and merely ignored it in favor of waiting for his companions to sneak away from their responsibilities in order to join him in his secret cave. The cave was very high up, and his vantage point allowed him to see very far off in the distance. From here he was able to see the entire isolated city, including the forbidden submerged areas, and the caverns' stone walls. This underground cavern, while big enough to hold a city and give the illusion of having its own sky, was surrounded by impenetrable stone walls on all sides. From their highest possible vantage point, sad amethyst eyes could see through the deceptions of the minds' eye to the horrible truth. They were trapped. They were ALWAYS trapped.

The sky that many swore they could see, was, in actuality, a phosphorus moss that had grown at the top of the cavern that gave them the illusion of the sun; it even bloomed for twelve hours before settling back into itself for another twelve hours, much like day and night. The unending water supply that flowed off of waterfalls on the raised city into the lava-filled 'moat', created a constant steam effect that enshrouded the city. The steam made the surrounding, uneven walls of the cavern appear to be far-off mountain ranges in the distance. Most in the city had been able to deceive themselves into thinking that they were still up above, still free; that if they were to but reach for those mountain ranges they would eventually reach somewhere else.

But no one ever tried. They were all afraid, because deep in their hearts, they knew. Even if some denied it and spoke otherwise, they all knew. Those far off distances would never take them anywhere. They could walk until their feet bled, until they were nearly dead from exhaustion, but they would always return; because there was nowhere to go. They were trapped, like small fish in a crystal bowl; the surroundings seemed as they should be, but there was really no choice on where to go. A silent tear slid down a pale, cherubic cheek as the young man mused sorrowfully on the fate of his people.

The pale one shook his tri-colored head vigorously as he reminded himself of why he was there; hope had been renewed to his heart and it wouldn't help anyone to think on things that he couldn't change. The only thing he could do was bring his hope to his people. But in order to do that, he first needed to find his hope; if that made any sense. And to do that, he needed his friends' help; and they were going with him to find their own 'hopes'. After all, he was one of the few seven who knew the secret passage ways, with all their twists and turns and blocked off dead-ends. But to navigate them quickly, he needed either his cousin, wife or their sons, his two cousins; luckily, both of the sons were coming along. Speaking of which, the short, pale young man could see them both coming up the winding path to his cave. Both of them were pale, much like the young man at the cave's entrance, marking them as one of the few Pale Ones of their culture.

His icy older cousin was easily discernable by his neat chestnut hair and glowing sapphire eyes as he regally ascended the rock path. Stately robes of deep blue and black snuggly encased his body, accentuating his lithe build, as his customary dark blue cloak billowed out behind him. His face was emotionless except for the slight softening of his eyes as he regarded his enthusiastic younger brother.

The younger of the two was running excitedly up the path trying to keep up with his tall, older brother's longer strides. Unruly, long black hair flew behind him in the wind as he ran, and charcoal-colored eyes danced happily while a smile a mile wide stretched across his young face. His tan and white shenti was much more appropriate for the upcoming adventure than his older brother's robes, but the enthusiastic teen had always been much less formal than his ostentatious brother. Still, he couldn't help but have a little bit of flair to his wardrobe, as evidenced by his bright orange cloak and the light blue bandana around his throat.

The amethyst-eyed young man at the cave entrance smiled towards his cousins in welcome, to which the older nodded slightly in response and the younger grinned happily. The tall, sapphire-eyed man reached the cave entrance first and swept his gaze inside, obviously searching for more of their companions. If he was disappointed that no one but his purple-eyed cousin was there yet, he gave no sign of it. The gray-eyed teen bounded inside a second after his brother and smiled at his shorter, but older, cousin as he exuberantly asked, "Are we the first ones here, Yugi?"

Yugi, the amethyst-eyed young man, nodded brightly as he replied, "Yep, you and Seto are the only two here yet, Mokuba!"

Before young Mokuba could say anything, his older brother questioned in his usual emotionless tenor, "I can understand how difficult it is for **Hahty'ah **(Prince) Atemu to sneak away, but how in the world is it possible for us to have arrived before that psychotic **Hwt-s'khpr **(Tomb-Builder) and **Ssh **(Scribe) Ryou?"Seto's upper lip curled in a condescending sneer when he spoke of the 'psychotic Tomb-Builder', before settling back into grudging respect when he spoke of Ryou. Mokuba rolled his expressive eyes behind his brother's back at his brother's rather elitist personality before quickly blinking in wide-eyed innocence when said brother glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow. Mokuba feigned innocence and Seto turned back to Yugi with his own small eye roll, disbelieving the obvious ploy of his younger brother but not caring enough to comment further.

Yugi smiled at the subtle show of brotherly affection as he cheerily replied, "Ryou was looking up everything he could in the Known Archives about **kah'gs **(soul-halves) and he told me that he might end up running late." Seto nodded at this explanation; Ryou made a good scribe and his dedication was something that Seto couldn't help but approve of. Yugi hesitated a moment as he reluctantly said, "I have no idea where Marik is though."

At the name of the Tomb-Builder, Seto's lip curled once more as he derisively sneered, "Well, he had better get here before **Ssh **Ryou and **Hahty'ah **Atemu arrive, or else I'm leaving him here."

Mokuba pouted cutely as he whined, "Aw, **Nii-sama **(older brother)! But Marik would make everything much more interesting!" Seto snorted in disgust; he couldn't understand his younger brother's apparent friendship with the psychopath and refused to comment on it further. Mokuba, realizing that line of reasoning wouldn't get him anywhere, decided to use the pleading pity route. Skillfully filling his eyes with sorrowful pity, Mokuba lowered his gaze in practiced affectation as he softly stated, "Marik felt the **kah **(soul) warmth as well, which means his **kah'gs **has arrived too. Wouldn't it be so sad if he wasn't able to meet his destined mate just because we left him behind?"

Seto rolled his eyes once again. He almost wanted to applaud his brother on his performance. Almost. But instead, he merely folded his arms across his broad chest and stated unconcernedly, "In that case, it would be entirely his own fault for being late. If he wanted to meet his mate so badly, then he should arrive on time." Mokuba looked up in irritation at his brother's easy discernment of his skillful deception and callous response to Marik's 'plight'. He wanted to stomp his foot in childish aggravation, but Mokuba felt that he was too old for that; especially since he was going to gain his own mate in a short amount of time.

The reminder brought the sparkle back to his eyes as he tried to imagine what his mate would be like. Would it be a girl or a boy? Were they older than him or younger? What would they look like? Act like? Would the two of them be mates formed by a Mystic-bond or a Physical-bond? His parents were Physically-bonded, but his father's paternal family came from a long line of Mystically-bonded mate-bonds; so he and Seto had a pretty fair chance of having their bondings go either way. He couldn't help but wish for a Physical-bond like his parents, and he knew that Seto secretly wished for the same.

Caught up in his musings, Mokuba hadn't noticed that his brother and cousin Yugi had continued on with their conversation. He decided that what they were talking about had no relevance to him, so he continued with his line of thinking as he speculated about his other soon-to-be-mated companions. Mokuba watched Yugi as he wondered about what his soul bonding would be. A Mystic-bond for his purple-eyed cousin, most likely. The same went for their other companions since they all, except for Yugi, had a bonded item which indicated that they would most likely have a Mystic-bond with their destined mate; although this was not always an indicator. After all, their father, **Hm'ntr **(Priest) Seth, had bonded to a sacred item only to have it abandon him when he Physically-bonded with their mother Kisara.

A good five minutes passed in his musings when Mokuba was startled out of his thoughts by an evil cackle that resounded through the cave causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up in fear. Mokuba rubbed his neck to try to settle the sensation as he turned towards the cave entrance to see the cause of his discomfort. Seto and Yugi also turned towards the newcomer, the former with an annoyed sneer, and the latter with a nervous but friendly smile of greeting towards the tall man.

Kohl accentuated lavender-colored eyes as they swept through the cave with barely leashed madness while a maniacal grin stretched across Marik's bronzed face. Dark insanity seemed to seep through his very pores, giving him an aura of evil intensity. His black shenti and dark purple cloak didn't help with his bestial appearance, nor did his long, sandy-blonde hair that was spiked sinisterly in every direction. Not even his gold bracers, arm bands, or earrings were able to give him an illusion of warmth; the warm gold seemed to instead give the effect of glittering malice and icy disassociation. He was nearly as tall as Seto, but he was more powerfully built; instead of athletically built like Seto, he had a more muscular build with broad shoulders, a powerful chest, defined abs, slim waist, and arms and legs corded with muscle. He gave off the impression of a stealthy jungle cat that had no problem with eating you. But only if he got to play with you first. Tucked in his shenti's belt was a medium-sized rod, made entirely out of gold, with a spherical head with two geometrically triangular 'wings' and the Eye of Ra encompassing the front of the sphere.

If Seto's eyes tightened a bit at the sight of the golden rod no one noticed it, and he himself didn't even register it. Seto ignored the new arrival in the icy manner that he always did with those he saw as beneath him; like he was nothing more than a slightly annoying bug, perhaps even less. Yugi and Mokuba however greeted the tanned newcomer with genuine, if somewhat cautious, welcome. Marik grinned evilly as he licked his lips with his somewhat overly long tongue before hissing maliciously, "Aw, what's wrong little **Hm'ntr**? Were you hoping that I might not join you? Or perhaps you're so overcome with joy at my appearance that you can't even look in my direction without having tears spring to your eyes. Is that it, little **Hm'ntr**?" Seto didn't even acknowledge the other man as Marik began cackling to himself before pulling a complete one-eighty and angrily growled, "I hope that you impale yourself on a stalagmite!"

This was why Seto had absolutely nothing to do with Marik whenever he could help it. His insane mind, while filled with a cunning that rivaled even Seto's own in strategic genius, also caused him strange bouts of bipolar moments, and that made him unbalanced and unpredictable. Cold, methodical Seto made his decisions based off of fact and logic; to him everything was categorized and piled into neat little files in his subconscious. Marik was the opposite. He was destructive, unpredictable, and all around messy to be around psychologically. He made decisions based off of emotional whimsy that could run hot or cold hourly. This made the two of them like oil and water, they had no common ground and they were both the antithesis of the others' mindset, making them very bitter enemies that could not agree on anything. Seto merely ignored him when he was in Marik's presence while Marik did everything from flirt evilly with him to almost killing him outright; it always depended on his mood and for however long that mood may last.

Thus, it was to no one's surprise that he ignored Marik in favor of watching the rock path for anymore of their companions. Marik's face flushed in insult and reached behind him to finger his knife sheath before the emotion abruptly left him and he turned to Yugi and Mokuba in as much friendliness as a psychopath like Marik could muster. Yugi and Mokuba were slightly put off by the abruptness of Marik's mood swings, but they got over it relatively quickly; they were used to it, somewhat. "Hello small ones, Yugi and Mokuba." Mokuba pouted at the comment while Yugi narrowed his amethyst eyes at Marik, regardless of how it caused them both to look even younger.

Marik cackled at their expressions and was about to tease them further, but before he had the chance, Seto growled, "Finally." Mokuba, Marik, and Yugi turned to look outside to see two vague shapes coming up the path. Yugi's eyes lit up at the shadows of his beloved older cousin and close friend.

Mokuba raised his arms above his head to enthusiastically wave them at their remaining companions as he happily shouted down to them, "Atemu! Ryou!" Marik contemplated getting angry at having his thunder stolen away by the two arrivals, but then he was distracted by the sight of an obscure shape formed by the cave walls' definitions that vaguely reminded him of a pair of hooks; this got him to thinking of his little 'fun room' that he used for either his sexual partners or those few traitors of Atemu's crown. He then blissfully zoned out as he reminisced about the resulting blood and screams; Seto caught Marik's look and subtly grimaced at the disturbing sight, not even wanting to know what the cause was. Probably for the best.

Yugi joined Mokuba in the arm waving as they excitedly waited for their friends. The two on the path appeared to be conversing about something as they ascended the rocky path. The smaller and leaner of the two, gentle Ryou, had a scroll unwound in his hand as he showed it to the taller and more muscular man beside him. They took their own time as they continued up to the top, much more patient then the black-haired teen and the optimistic, second **hahty'ah**.

Ryou, the most timid and soft-spoken of the group, was a Pale One like Yugi, Seto, and Mokuba. He was slender and skinny as a reed, giving him the impression of being taller than he actually was. His shoulder-length hair was of the purest white and complimented his porcelain skin very nicely. His ever-helpful face was just as earnest and soft as his personality, while his chocolate-brown eyes gave the impression of a genuinely gentle soul. His pure white shenti had little decorations, save for a few splashes of sky-blue color on the embroidery. The only jewelry he had was a talisman made entirely out of gold on a necklace around his neck; it was a triangular piece carved with the Eye of Ra encircled by a band of gold with five hanging spear-like appendages that made _chink_ing sounds together as he walked.

**Hahty'ah **Atemu, next in line for the throne as soon as he found his 'queen', was the opposite of sweet and unassuming Ryou. Power and authority clung to his form as ruby-red eyes assessed the scroll held in Ryou's pale hands. Gravity-defying spikes of ebony tipped with deep maroon, he had naturally blond bangs; however, unlike Yugi, he also had three additional lightning-bolt spikes jolting up into his hair. His maroon colored tips also contrasted greatly with Yugi's amethyst-colored tips. And while Atemu's bronzed face was filled with a powerful charisma, his ruby-red eyes were always filled with a tightly-leashed passion and intense intelligence. His face was angularly sculpted compared to Yugi's softly cherubic face. Meanwhile, Yugi's pale face and crystal-clear eyes were dominated with youthful optimism and charming innocence. Despite all their differences, it was obvious that they were related to one another. Atemu could have been Yugi's brother; unsurprising considering their mothers had been twin sisters.

Atemu had been trained in the arts of weapons and self-defense, giving his body a nicely toned definition that filled out his broad shoulders, defined chest and abs, and supple arms and legs rather nicely. He moved with perfect grace and complete control; so much so, that most would sometimes forget that he was slightly shorter than average. As he ascended the rock path, it was obvious that he was a male who was used to being in charge and carried the weight of responsibility on his shoulders rather seriously. His white shenti was made of obviously superior material for all that it was made plainly with a blue cloth that was tied at his waist from his golden belt. His royal purple cloak danced behind him as he walked, the color denoting his station as royalty. Golden arm bracers, leg bracers, arm bands, earrings, and pectoral all adorned his holy body; but it was the golden Eye of Ra that lay as a circlet upon his forehead that truly gave away his presence as the next-in-line ruler.

None of this mattered to him however, as he listened to everything that Ryou had to say about his research on **kah'gs**; that was to say, not very much that he didn't already know. Still, all knowledge was worth having, and he listened patiently as Ryou concluded his report; both were highly dissatisfied with how little they really knew. Not that Atemu could complain about it being Ryou's fault; it's just that no one remembered that much about the subject and all of the old archives were filled with inaccessible information. All things considering, they were lucky even to have this much information. Looking at the illustrative hieroglyphs that the 'ancient' Egyptians adopted from them, the young soon-to-be-King wished, for perhaps the millionth time, that they could read the intricately flowing script that dominated the unreadable scrolls and texts in their ancient libraries; instead, they had to make due with the not-as-informative pantomimed illustrations for descriptions for the information they needed. He often wondered if they had gleaned all the information that they could from the pictures as the illustrator had no doubt intended to be found; most likely not, considering that back-story descriptions shaded with nuances could be much more meaningful for informational purposes than a stand-still picture that had lost all meaning during translation.

Atemu heaved a mental sigh of anguish at the waste of history, lore, medicine, magic, literature, culture, indeed even their own _language_ had been rendered completely forgotten, save the texts that had been written with physical renditions to explain their purpose. Thus, their entire collection of what might have been completely informative texts regarding **kah'gs**,have become unreadable; which did not help their current cause.

It also did not help that no one had formed a mate bond since the **Wr Aatb **(Great Flood) so there was no one to give them advice on what to expect; and it was even more infuriating that those in the city with mate-bonds of their owns could not remember the exact mechanics of how it worked either. That too had been forgotten. The only shreds of knowledge that the other mated pairs could impart were general descriptions based off of emotional feelings and vague remembrances; nothing solid that they could use as a basis.

Atemu mentally sighed yet again, though this one was caused more by aggravation than sorrow, as his eyes glowed with his determination to not fuck up his chances. He considered himself lucky that he was one of the six to have been blessed with a soul mate after all this time of utter loneliness. Finally, after all this time of having to share everything of himself for his people, he would have something that was purely his. Someone with whom to share the burden of his responsibilities and hardships; at least, he fervently hoped so. According to the other mated pairs, they said that their mate was everything that they needed and wanted for themselves; but when he had pressed them on what they had wanted before their mating, they had admitted to not remembering what they had assumed they wanted for the mating. It had seemed more like they had not known what they wanted until the other person was directly before them. This made Atemu somewhat uneasy, as though the mating bond was nothing more than a spell that controlled the recipients' perceptions, but maybe that was him just being paranoid. He certainly didn't feel any emotional manipulations from the warmth in his chest, nor did he sense any influences upon his subconscious personality.

He had debated this with Ryou and both had decided that the only course of action was to be patient and proceed with caution; caution came easily to Atemu, being the next in line for the throne, but patience was not one of his strong points. Still, he and Ryou had decided to warn Yugi and Mokuba to at least try for doing the same; not Marik or Seto because, one, Seto was always patient and cautious, two, Seto and Marik had probably already figured this out anyway from their own researching of the subject, and three, Marik was insane and liable to do the exact opposite of what he said if he was caught in a contrary mood. His younger cousins were much more likely to rush along headfirst into their destinies without thinking of the possible ramifications if it turned out to be a trap.

Speaking of his companions, he and Ryou could see the other four at the summit of the cliff path they were walking at the mouth of a cave. Atemu couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight of his optimistic younger cousins waving at him and Ryou while Seto lounged against the wall, arms folded across his chest while his cold eyes swept over them with his characteristically unemotional gaze before turning his head to unconcernedly scan the horizon. Atemu could see Marik behind them, but he appeared to be gazing at nothing in particular with that blissed out look on his face that Atemu knew meant he was imagining something bleeding and in pain.

Beside him, Ryou shivered at the look that he too recognized; Ryou sometimes volunteered to help Isis in the infirmary and he had helped nurse many of Marik's 'victims' back to health. He knew they were technically traitors to Atemu and the crown, but having sewed enough of their wounds shut he couldn't help but feel a deep-seated sympathy for the men and women. But then, he had always been a little too kind-hearted.

They were reaching the summit to the path, still retaining their progressive walk of neither rushing ahead nor slowing down. Instead, Yugi and Mokuba ran down the path towards them, shouting in excitement all the way. Ryou smiled as he was hugged enthusiastically by Yugi and returned the friendly embrace. Mokuba was having his hair ruffled by the monarch beside him in affectionate nettling. Mokuba pouted as he escaped Atemu's bronze hands and Yugi released Ryou to maul his older cousin with his signature hug of welcome. Atemu smiled ruefully at his younger cousin; it didn't matter that Atemu was considered a holy vessel and that most in the city refused to even look him in the eyes in fear of offending him. Yugi genuinely cared for Atemu, regardless of rank, and hugged him in the same friendly manner that he did his other friends. But that was one of the reasons that Atemu loved his younger cousin so dearly. Only a few people gave him the gift of genuine friendship without minding the sticky web of his lineage, and he prayed extensively that his destined mate would act in the same way. It was so tiring to endure all the scraping and bowing, as though he was crystal wrapped in silk. Atemu would have much preferred to live the life of a regular citizen; but that was not in the cards of his life, and he had long ago relegated himself to serving his people in any way he could, even if that meant having to grudgingly accept their profuse worship.

Atemu's smile widened when Yugi released him with an exuberant shout of, "Atemu! I missed you!" Atemu arched a brow at this; he counted backwards in his mind and realized that it had been about three weeks since he and his cousin had talked to each other outside of the meeting rooms and meal times. This made him feel a little sad since he and his cousin had always been rather close; but it couldn't be helped. His time was oftentimes consumed by the demands of his people which left him very little time to himself and his friends.

Atemu ruefully conceded the point and made a silent promise to himself to take time out of his schedule to spend with his little cousin. "Indeed, as have I little cousin. At least we get to spend the entire day together much like we used to when we were small children." Atemu glanced around at his cousins and friends and amended, "With a few add-ons, of course." Any day spent fully in the presence of his blue-eyed cousin and bipolar tomb-builder was sure to be exhausting, but he refrained from saying so aloud; it wouldn't do to gain Marik's attention when he had that particular look in his eye. Ryou went over to stand by Seto since he was done giving **Hahty'ah **Atemu his report and wanted to stay out of the line of fire in case Marik decided to take notice of his surroundings.

Seto snorted in derision as he caught onto his cousins' unspoken thought process but didn't say anything; which was fine since his younger brother filled in that void with his youthful chatter. Practically bouncing in his eagerness to be off and on their way, Mokuba excitedly shouted, "What are we waiting for?! Can we go now? Please, please, please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

Atemu smiled and shook his head ruefully at his energetic younger cousin while Yugi laughed at the often-used slang that Mokuba had acquired from the surface languages; that particular American phrase being one of his favorites since it involved a certain favored sweet. Atemu didn't even get a chance to acquiescent before Mokuba had already turned to his older brother to give him his "puppy-dog" eyes. Seto sighed in disgust as he turned to his ruby-eyed cousin and said, "Oh for the love of Ra, just tell him he can so he can stop giving me that damn look!" Mokuba grinned to himself at the never-fail maneuver while Ryou and Yugi giggled.

Atemu hid his smile as he addressed Mokuba, "Yes Mokuba, we can begin now that everyone is here." Mokuba punched the air as he spun on his heel with a shouted "YAHOO!" and sprinted deeper into the cave. Seto cursed under his breath and glided hurriedly after his brother, concerned that the teen might get himself injured by any number of things inside the cave. Ryou looked between the spiky-haired monarchs and the quickly departing back of the priest in a moments indecision before glancing at the blonde tomb-builder and made up his mind. Nodding to his two friends he quickly bolted down the passageway to catch up to the brothers in a blur of white. Atemu was unsurprised as he sighed a little at the task of having to bring Marik out of his trance and shared a wry look with his favorite cousin. Amethyst eyes regarded him sympathetically and Atemu rolled his own ruby-red eyes at his cousin.

Atemu walked over to the wall Marik was staring at so intensely and put his right hand in front of the section that was being monopolized. He then did something no sane person would ever consider doing. He put his hand in Marik's direct line of sight and snapped his fingers. Lavender eyes blinked at the tanned hand for a second before turning to glare at the owner in outrage. Yugi quickly leaped forward to put himself between the two tanned men and said hurriedly, "Mokuba, Seto, and Ryou are already ready to go, Marik. We just need you to come along too if we want to get to our soul-mates and Atemu was just making sure that you weren't left behind." Yugi prayed this was the correct approach to use with Marik. Atemu almost started to tell Yugi to not fight his battles for him but was interrupted mid-thought as Marik began cackling.

Yugi shuddered in uncertainty at the bone-chilling sound and Atemu side-stepped around his cousin to shield the smaller man with his own body as ruby eyes narrowed at the psychopath in front of him. Atemu needn't have bothered though as Marik continued cackling to himself at some unknown joke as he swaggered down the passageway, deeper into the cave. Yugi and Atemu gave each other identical looks before both shrugged and stated, "Marik." And really, that was all that needed to be said. Both of them followed the blonde man at a cautious distance, neither one comfortable with how easily Marik gave up his offense. The two cousins stayed silent as they walked along, not wanting to be distracted in case Marik took advantage and attacked them.

They walked along for a couple minutes until the passageway opened into an enormous cavern. The room was relatively simple in design; it was a rounded room with a very high ceiling that led to a tunnel. The tunnel continued onward, as large around as the cavern itself, but was inaccessible to anything ground-based due to the large drop-off that occurred in the middle of the cavern. Yugi knew that if they followed that tunnel then it would lead them to a series of tunnels that could lead them to the rest of the underground network of highways. He had traveled down all of them and had memorized their layouts as a teenager so that he could try to escape and make his way to the surface; he had discovered that there was no way out, much to his despair. Near the drop-off were his two cousins and pale friend, Seto impassive as ever, Ryou studying the smooth walls of the cavern, and Mokuba bouncing impatiently for his remaining cousins to hurry up. Marik sneered at Seto which Seto disdainfully reciprocated as Yugi and Atemu smiled at the energetic Mokuba.

Atemu glanced around to make sure everyone was here and nodded to Mokuba, to which the teen grinned and Seto snorted. Both took it as their cue, and in a split second they were surrounded in a white mist that gradually grew larger. A few seconds later, the mist dissipated to show two white dragons. The first was very large and was so white that it had a few bluish undertones and looked vaguely metallic, its scales almost seeming to shine rather than glitter. It was at least thirty feet tall and would undoubtedly have a wingspan of twice that as evidenced by the sweeping wind that occurred when it readjusted its wings to rest more comfortably on its sides. The second one was much smaller and more grayish in color compared to the larger one. It was only eighteen feet tall and only had a wingspan of thirty-five feet which it showed as it fluttered itself off the ground.

The silent audience was unsurprised by the amazing transformation of the two brothers, but all four blinked in surprise when the white dragons flinched noticeably. Two sets of sapphire-colored dragon eyes widened a split second before they suddenly flashed to crimson-red. Yugi and Ryou gasped at the sight as Marik and Atemu narrowed their eyes at the two dragons; none of them had ever seen Seto or Mokuba's dragon eyes turn red before. Even when the red eyes turned back to their normal deep blue a few seconds later, none of them moved from where they were.

It was Mokuba of course who filled the silence. Mokuba rumbled a wary dragonish sound as he spoke on the common magical telepathy that most sentient creatures shared. _~Holy Ra! What was _that _**Nii-sama**__?!~_ The smaller of the two dragons had turned his head to stare at the larger dragon in wide-eyed uncertainty as he made his inquiry. Everyone heard the question in their mind and turned to look at the older of the two dragons for the answer.

Icy, deep-blue eyes narrowed in thought as the great white head shook in puzzlement. The larger dragon hissed in the dragonish show of disgust as he replied, _~Much as I hate to admit it Mokuba, I have no idea.~_ At Yugi, Ryou, and Mokuba's looks of astonishment at the admission of the all-knowledgeable Seto not having an answer, Seto narrowed his eyes to slits to show his displeasure.

It was Marik who burst out laughing at the delicious irony of the situation. Sniggering evilly, Marik grinned maliciously up at the towering white dragon and spitefully said, "Look who has nothing to say. Mister All-knowing-smart-ass has finally admitted to not knowing something like us plebeians. How utterly delightful for me and how utterly humiliating this must be for you." Razor-sharp teeth flashed lethally as Seto curled his lips up to snarl menacingly at the crazy asshole; Marik only laughed harder.

Atemu, not wanting Seto to kill the obviously crazy man, stepped forward and addressed Seto, "What was it that you know _did_ happen? Not the cause, but the sensation?" The giant white head swiveled around to stare at the tanned monarch as Yugi used his cousins' distraction to hurriedly tug the lavender-eyed man out of dragon-biting distance; though he knew that Marik couldn't be taken far enough anywhere in this room to be out of dragon-lightning distance. Still, he figured it would probably be better to keep Marik at least out of a semblance of Seto's irritation range. Marik was too busy still laughing his head off to notice that he was being moved away, as Ryou and Mokuba watched the byplay with wary eyes.

Seto allowed his cousin to distract him as he explained, _~All I can say is that it felt as though my chest went up in flames for a few seconds and my Ka felt something else inside of me. Something that wasn't supposed to be there.~_

Atemu regarded his transformed cousin thoughtfully before glancing to his other dragon cousin to see the smaller reptilian head bobbing up and down in confirmation. He then turned back to the larger dragon and questioned, "Did it feel threatening to you?"

Seto closed his eyes for a few moments as he concentrated on the remembered feel of the other whatever-it-was before wearily opening his eyes to slowly shake his head. _~No. If anything it felt surprised. Whatever it was hadn't expected me any more than I had expected it.~_ Again the other white dragon nodded in agreement.

Atemu narrowed his eyes as he asked, "Did it come with a visual or was it just an impression?" Yugi's head unconsciously perked up at the question and turned to listen to the conversation more closely. Only Ryou noticed the sudden interest in the purple-eyed Pale One, but stayed silent; he had long ago learned that waiting patiently was more rewarding than questioning.

Seto stayed silent, not wanting to give anything away, but Mokuba pitched in, _~I didn't see anything, but I _did _feel something brush up against my Ka. It was almost as if my transformation made it wake up and it was letting me know it was there. It felt kinda nice to be honest.~ _Seto looked away to stare towards the tunnel; Atemu wasn't fooled for an instant. His stubborn, emotionally-repressive cousin didn't want to admit that something had actually made him feel good.

Atemu folded his arms over his chest as he regarded the two dragons, one trying very hard to appear nonchalant, and the other so caught up in his own musings that he failed to realize that his older brother was dearly wishing for the topic of conversation to be dropped. Atemu then said, "Were either of you aware that your eyes flashed red for a few seconds?"

Seto's head whipped around and Mokuba blinked his deep-blue dragon eyes at Atemu in astonishment. Atemu gleaned from their dragonish expressions that that would be a big fat no. His suspicion was confirmed when Seto narrowed his eyes and growled lowly, _~That's impossible. We are Blue-Eyes White Dragons. Our eye colors are only ever blue when we're in this form; nothing else.~_ Mokuba had been struck speechless at the mere thought.

Atemu raised an eyebrow as he stated, "Be that as it may, it doesn't change the fact that all four of us watched both of your eyes change from blue to red for a few seconds before reverting back to their original blue." Seto and Mokuba glanced at Yugi and Ryou to see the light of confirmation in their eyes before glancing at each other in silent puzzlement.

Seto then shook his head, a little more vigorously than he probably should have, and turned back to Atemu with his normal stoicism and stated emotionlessly, _~As much as this has given me something to ponder for upcoming rainy days, we are getting nowhere when we need to be on our way before the Council comes looking for us. Especially when they discover you missing.~_

Atemu narrowed his ruby eyes at his cousin's deft side-step in the conversation but acknowledged that he was right. With a sigh of acquiescence, Atemu allowed the conversation to be dropped. He then glared up into icy sapphire-colored eyes and sent on a private wave of telepathy, _~You win this round, but don't think this conversation is over cousin.~_ Deep-blue eyes narrowed nearly imperceptivity at the tanned prince before glancing away in the direction of his younger brother, not even deigning to give his cousin a reply.

Mokuba, not having noticed the silent communication between his older brother and cousin, had turned towards Marik and was urging him to climb on him so they could hurry on their journey. Seto reached out a clawed dragon hand and dragged his little brother away from the lavender-eyed psychopath. Mokuba squeaked in dragonish indignity and affront at being manhandled, but was silenced as his brother gave him an impenetrable glare and got down on all fours between his brother and Marik. Marik rolled his eyes before climbing onto the withers of the larger white dragon as Seto told his brother along their own private thread of telepathy, _~The psycho is not to ride on you. You might get infected.~_ When Mokuba unconsciously opened his mouth to dispute his brother's claim, Seto continued, _~Besides, if we're to be travelling for multiple hours you will be much less tired if you ride with someone lighter, like Yugi or Ryou.~ _Mokuba shut his mouth as he grudgingly accepted the wisdom of his brother's words and turned towards the two in question. He then also squatted down on all fours so they could board him as Atemu made his way up Seto's side to perch comfortably above his wings.

Ryou and Yugi both climbed unto Mokuba and made themselves comfortable. Atemu glanced worriedly at his younger cousin, concerned that he was riding the easily excitable younger dragon, but unable to say anything without possibly hurting his little dragon cousin's feelings. Mokuba almost launched himself off the drop-off but was stopped by a white wing flapping directly into his face to halt his progress. Mokuba squinted up at his brother peevishly at the delay but Seto merely stared at him drolly as Ryou began chanting a spell aloud. Marik soon joined in and soon both dragons were covered in a fine mesh of golden harnesses that fit the contours of their bodies perfectly and kept their riders safely attached to them. Mokuba made a dragonish sound of sheepish consternation as he waited for his brother to remove his wing, which he did a few seconds later. Seto assumed a familiar pose with his four legs braced out from his body that signaled to Atemu and Marik to brace themselves, before vigorously shaking himself to make sure the harness was safely in place and wouldn't slip during flight or become uncomfortable. When he ascertained that everything laid smoothly, he settled back down and gave his brother a pointed stare; Marik cursing in Egyptian all the while at the rough shaking. Mokuba imitated his brother and shook himself vigorously as Yugi and Ryou tightened their hold on the younger dragon. Deciding that the harness was fine, Mokuba then stared expectantly up at his older brother for the next instruction.

Seto replied by diving off the drop-off and made a swooping ascent as he turned his serpentine head backwards to watch his younger brother. Mokuba happily jumped off as well but was slightly disconcerted at the extra weight of Yugi and Ryou on his back; he had never flown with passengers before, and he suddenly understood what his brother meant about the extra weight. Instinctually knowing that he had to pace himself, Mokuba used a heated air vent to propel his ascent rather than waste his much needed energy on flapping his wings. Brother flew alongside brother and Seto kept his pace slow and steady so that it wouldn't tax his brother. Only the occasional sweep of white wings was needed to keep the giant bodies airborne while tails acted as rudders for their flight directions. Seto would occasionally glance over at his brother from time to time to check his progress as they flew along to the guide of Yugi's directions.

They travelled like this for a few hours and Mokuba was thoroughly bored; normally he would have been making large loops and sudden drops in altitude only to make a swooping ascent at the last possible second, but he had passengers to think of. Conversation had sprung up of course, but nothing that would keep him interested, since it was mostly just political stuff and spells. As shape-shifters, he and his brother were unable to do most spells, so the magic talk wasn't very interesting to him. Finally, when he couldn't keep quiet anymore, he burst out, _~Can we talk about something else, please?!~ _

Seto had been honestly surprised that his brother had lasted this long and was more than happy to reward his patience. _~What would you like to talk about, Mokuba?~ _Everyone but Marik turned to look at him for his answer; Marik was too busy staring up at the stalactites up above and picturing the sharp spikes impaled with blood-soaked corpses. Mokuba thought for a moment and easily replied, _~What does everyone want in their mate?~_

Seto hid his dismay behind his normal mask of stoicism as he silently wished his brother had chosen a different topic of conversation. Ryou and Yugi both blinked in surprise as they glanced at each other. Atemu just raised a brow as he regarded the question. Seto sighed and said while still looking ahead of him, _~Why don't you go first since you asked the question.~ _

Mokuba contemplated his answer for a few seconds before saying, _~I don't particularly care whether they're a boy or girl just so long as they're fun to be around. I want my mate to be nice and be someone __**Mwt **__(Mother) and __**At **__(Father) will get along with. I was also hoping that we would be Physically-bonded. But that's about it.~ _

Seto raised a scaly eyebrow at how vague his little brother was. He prompted, _~No preferences on what they look like or what their personality is? Or their intellectual and magical ability?~ _

Mokuba tilted his white head in dragonish innocence as he replied back, _~Not really. They are who they are regardless of any of that kind of stuff. Just so long as they're nice, fun, and they get along with my family, then none of that stuff really matters. After all, I'm half dragon but that doesn't define the whole of me. Why would I wish for things that might very well be the exact opposite of what they are, which they're unable to change? Like if I wish they have black hair and they wound up a blonde, it wouldn't be very fair of me to say they're incapable of being my perfect mate just because of something they were born with. So I decided to be less specific and focus on only a few things that I know that I absolutely require. Like niceness and getting along with our parents.~ _Atemu, Yugi, and Ryou were all impressed with Mokuba's maturity regarding the topic and found themselves rather proud of his straightforward selflessness. Mokuba turned his head to look at his brother curiously, _~What about you __**Nii-sama**__? What's your ideal in a mate?~_

Seto startled for a moment before ignoring his brother's inquiry and asking, _~So __**Hahty'ah**__, what is it you would prefer for your __**hem-t nesu**__ (queen)?~_

Atemu and Mokuba both glared at Seto for shifting the question off of himself, but when Seto ignored both of them, Atemu relented with an exasperated sigh. "I suppose like Mokuba I don't really care whether they're male of female. I only wish that they are a good 'queen' to our people and that they are just and kind. I also hope that they are interested in our culture and history." He paused for a moment as he hesitated to form his last wish, a little uncomfortable with how exposed it would make him feel. "I guess it would be too much to ask that they not mind that I have no Life Partner." He added the last in with a bit of wistfulness and regret. Mokuba, Yugi, and Ryou all glanced over at him sympathetically, they honestly hadn't thought of that; they were too used to seeing Atemu without one that it hadn't even occurred to them that his mate might find exception to him not having a Life Partner.

Yugi cleared his throat as he admitted aloud, "No more unreasonable than me hoping for one that doesn't mind a mate with no Symbol." Atemu whipped his head around to stare at his cousin guiltily; he too had forgotten that his cousin was missing something as well to make him a suitable mate. Yugi smiled tremulously at his cousin as Atemu smiled wryly, thinking, _My, what a pair we two make. Some royalty we are. _

A dragonish snort sounded from Mokuba as he rolled his eyes, _~Relax Atemu. Neither Seto nor I have Life Partners either.~_

Ruby-red eyes stared drolly at the white dragon as he replied, "It's not quite the same thing and you know it. Shape-shifters don't have Life Partners because they _become _their own Life Partners." Mokuba grimaced as his attempted reassurance plan backfired.

The two dragons finally burst out of the tunnel into an enormous cavern with many different holes in the walls. What Mokuba gleefully noticed however was the smooth, cobble-stoned path below them that signaled the end of his flying. Turning to face Yugi he pleaded, _~Oh _please _tell me that this is where we land and walk the rest of the way.~ _Yugi had barely nodded at his younger cousin before the young dragon let out a shriek of delight and dived towards the bottom of the cavern, causing Yugi and Ryou to hang on for dear life as the floor seemed to rush up at them. Seto followed the descent at a more stately pace while Atemu watched his younger cousins in a mixture of amusement and worry. Mokuba pulled up at the perfect moment and glided parallel to the floor as he slowed his approach, before landing gracefully. Seto, only a little bit behind him, swerved out of the way and landed beside him in a flutter of white scales.

Ryou and Marik began chanting the disengagement spell in unison while Mokuba waited impatiently for his two riders to get off. The golden harnesses dissolved in a shower of sparks and the four riders slid down the sides of the dragons as soon as they were able, each taking a moment to accustom their legs to the sensation of being on ground again after the past few hours in the air. Twin mists of white enveloped the dragons and, a few seconds later, dissolved to show a stretching black-haired teenager with his blue-robed older brother beside him with his arms folded over his chest.

Atemu was about to continue the previous conversation and even got so far as opening his mouth to address his brunet cousin, when Ryou suddenly exclaimed, causing all heads to turn in his direction. Ryou was squatted down on a bended knee as he regarded something on the ground with a look of intense curiosity on his face. Everyone congregated around the white-haired man, even Marik, to see what had grabbed his attention.

Imprinted onto the cobble-stoned path was the unfamiliar tread of a defined, black, dirt streak with patterned grooves. Everyone knew what it was though they had never personally seen one before. It was a tire track imprint on a light layering of dirt on the path. Everyone except Mokuba and Marik blinked in astonishment at the possible ramifications of there being _vehicles _down here. Questions flitted through the four minds as they wondered the why's and how's of the newest puzzle before them before a snort of disgust sounded to their left.

Everyone looked towards the sound to see Marik glaring at the tire track as he growled irritatedly, "_Great. _This means they're even farther ahead than we expected." Ruby and sapphire eyes blinked at the realization as Yugi, Ryou, and Mokuba all groaned in disappointment that meeting their mates would take even longer.

Seto sneered at the blonde man as he derisively said, "Do you _mind_? We're trying to ascertain how there are modern-day vehicles down her."

To which Marik caustically replied, with a derisive roll of his madness-filled eyes, "Obviously our mates _brought _them here. And if we don't get going soon then they might end up reaching the city before we have a chance to meet them and get all of our questions answered anyway." Mokuba, Ryou , and Yugi all startled at the quick thinking of Marik's mind, while Atemu choked back a laugh at the sight of his older cousin's face scrunching up at having been so completely out-maneuvered. Marik was right of course, but Seto had the pride of ten people and he refused to allow the tomb-builder to get the better of him.

Seeing the unholy flare of temperament in sapphire eyes, Yugi quickly intervened between the two geniuses and said in a falsely jovial voice, "Look! The tracks lead to this passageway." Everyone followed his pointed finger as he walked over to his much taller cousin to grab his arm and begin dragging him down the passageway while chattering all the way to keep the brunet off balance. Atemu almost burst into hysterical laughter at the look on his older cousin's face. If he had thought his previous expression was hilarious…

Mokuba, too caught up in his excitement over finding his mate, seemed to not notice the undercurrents of politics between the two men, or chose to ignore them as he happily raced after his two older cousins. Ryou remained next to the tanned monarch while Atemu tried to regain his composure, and was thus able to watch as Marik began swaggering after the three down the passageway whilst humming a rather creepy tune. He knew the tune to be a Ukrainian war song and shuddered at the remembered lyrics; let's just say the song depicted certain atrocities that were right up Marik's alley. Atemu finally straightened to his full height and allowed his 'Pharaoh mask' to slide into place. He then nodded to Ryou and the two began making their way down the passageway after the other four, though at a much more sedate pace. It wasn't until they heard a horrified shout a few minutes later that they sped up their pace.

The two raced along the path following after the sound, terrified that something had happened to their friends, to finally reach a large room. The two easily caught sight of the other four, but it was the sight of Yugi on his knees, his back to them, in a sight of such utter desolation that caused Atemu and Ryou to sprint to their side. Atemu's ruby eyes swept the surrounding for any hint of a threat, his hands automatically reaching for the swords strapped to his back underneath his cloak.

What he saw though puzzled them greatly. Before them was an enormous trench that stretched from one side of the room to the next with no discernable way to get around it. The ancient ruins of a stone bridge could be seen off to their right but it had obviously collapsed inwards centuries ago. Instead, there seemed to be a freshly downed column of stone that had been demolished to form a false, but utterly functional, type of bridge.

It was that which Yugi was staring at with such utter horror and despair, his normally pale face noticeably paler. Atemu, obviously puzzled by his cousin's reaction to the unthreatening sight, glanced around at his other companions to glean their reactions to this situation. Seto was staring at the makeshift bridge in disdain, obviously more insulted that a perfectly good decoration had been destroyed for the sole purpose to be tread upon than any sense of affront to said bridges' destruction. Mokuba didn't appear concerned about the downed column any more than Seto was and was too busy trying to ascertain what was wrong with Yugi, his gray eyes filled with worry as he tried to shake Yugi out of his horrified stupor. Marik was the exact opposite of Yugi and appeared to be having fun as he gleefully examined the black scorch marks at the base of the 'bridge'. Beside him, Ryou was staring at the 'bridge' in obvious puzzlement as his concerned gaze flitted from Yugi to the 'bridge' and back, trying to understand the correlation between the two.

Atemu, having realized that there was no danger, slowly retracted his hands from his sword hilts and stepped closer to the downed column. Squatting next to his desolate cousin he glanced warily at the makeshift bridge and realized that it had originally been a monolith. His well-trained eyes also discerned that it had only been destroyed less than five hours ago. Glancing at his purple-eyed cousin, he noticed that neither Mokuba's repeated shaking nor concerned words were reaching him. Using his confident 'Pharaoh voice', he sternly said, "Yugi." He didn't shout it or whisper it, he merely said it, but it seemed to get a reaction out of him.

Glazed purple eyes blinked slowly, a sluggish fanning of long lashes, before clearing slightly as they turned to look at the owner of the authorative voice. Amethyst merged with crimson and the glaze lifted from them only to be replaced by unshed tears. A quick inhale of breath and Yugi held it, afraid that if he exhaled it would come out as a sob. Teary purple eyes seemed to grow larger in their sorrow which was only enhanced when Yugi refused to blink, terrified that if he did then the tears would fall.

Atemu grew alarmed at this; his cousin was optimistic and happy by his very nature. An unhappy Yugi was like a dusty jewel; a horrible waste of utter potential and beauty. In fact, he only saw his cousin this distressed if it had to do with his mother or the city's loss of freedom. Greatly concerned, though neatly hiding it under his 'Pharaoh mask', Atemu continued in the same tone of voice, "Why is this monolith causing you such sadness?"

Mokuba and Ryou watched Yugi worriedly as he sniffled delicately, quickly reaching up to wipe his tears away with the back of his hand. Taking a couple breaths to steady himself, Yugi recollected himself as he explained, a bit shakily, "This monolith wasn't just a decoration. It was our beginning." At everyone's confused look Yugi continued, "This monolith was a complete depiction of our entire story. How Atlantis was made, how it came to be, our entire civilization, the explanation of our magics and technology, every war we fought, our every triumph and loss, every King and Queen, our very culture. It was our complete record of everything from our creation story to right up until we sank beneath the ocean. It was our entire history. And now it's gone." Yugi looked on the verge of desolation again while Ryou and Mokuba both stared down at the thing at their feet in utter astonishment. Atemu was too busy staring at his cousin. He knew there was something else, something Yugi wasn't telling him but it seemed to be of a more personal thing.

Deciding to let his cousin have his privacy in the matter, he gained his feet to get a better vantage point to study the downed monolith. He had never heard of this thing before and he wondered how his cousin had; but since he had never been through any of these tunnels before, he guessed that that was how his cousin knew of it. Still, he couldn't help but feel a hint of uneasiness. He felt a little disconcerted that his little cousin knew of something this important when he, as soon-to-be-King, didn't. He knew Yugi had no intentions upon the throne but he was honestly puzzled why Yugi had never brought up something of this much importance; neither had anyone else for that matter. Did anyone else even know? They had to; it wasn't as though it was in an inconspicuous place, and besides, someone had to have built it.

Deciding to bring up the matter to the council at a later date, Atemu was interrupted out of his thoughts by a rather rude snort of annoyance. Seto was staring at the three kneeling in front of the downed monolith in obvious annoyance. He then walked directly past them and began walking across the piece of destroyed history. Yugi gave a startled yelp as he quickly pushed to his feet to frantically shout at the brunet, "What are you DOING?!" Mokuba and Ryou also gained to their feet as they stared after Seto incredulously.

Seto, without even turning around to address them, continued onward as he unconcernedly said back to them, "Piece of history or not, we have to keep going and this is the only way to the other side."

Ryou shouted back at him in utter confusion, "But what if we damage it beyond our ability to fix it? Then pieces of our entire civilization would be lost to us forever." The smallest three in the group were staring after the unconcerned shape-shifter with wide eyes. Marik laughed as he began making his way across the 'bridge' as well.

Atemu was about to call out to them when Seto reached the other side and turned around to address them impatiently, "So what if it becomes too damaged to ever read again. Can any of you read it even now?" When the three dropped their gazes to look at the swirling symbols engraved into the downed monolith they realized that the symbols were Atlantean. Realization crossed their faces at the same time Seto continued, "We wouldn't have been able to read it even if it hadn't been destroyed; what makes any of you think that by trying our best to preserve it will suddenly make it easier to read now?" They had no answer to that, but they were still hesitant to walk across such a huge piece of their culture.

Atemu looked to them as he started walking across it as well; he stopped about half-way on it to look back at the still-hesitating trio. Ruby eyes bored into uncertain amethyst, doe-brown, and charcoal-gray eyes as he tried to reassure them, "I'm sure that the Archives have all the information in them anyway. Even if this was still standing, I'm sure our ancestors were smart enough to record everything else into the archives as a contingency. Just because we can't read it here doesn't mean the knowledge isn't somewhere else."

The trio glanced between each other and Mokuba hesitantly stepped unto the makeshift bridge. Walking quickly across, he passed Atemu at the half-way point to reach his brother on the other side. Ryou was the next to follow though he kept sending worried glances back towards Yugi. Atemu waited patiently for his cousin to come across as well and was rewarded when Yugi took a deep breath and slowly made his way towards him. When he reached Atemu, they walked side by side to reach the other side together. Though Yugi still had a bit of moisture in his eyes, he managed to bravely swallow them and continue on. Nobody glanced back at the downed monolith.

They continued down the path, each lost in their own thoughts, before Mokuba broke the silence. "So, back to our original conversation." Everyone looked at him as he clarified, "About our expectations in our mates." Seto briefly closed his eyes while Yugi and Ryou blushed.

Everyone was shocked when Marik suddenly laughed. Heartily. Everyone stared at the purple-eyed psycho as his laughter trailed off into chuckles. He then glanced around at the five staring at him and amusedly asked, "When did we start talking about this?"

Mokuba warily answered, "Towards the end of our flight. Me and Atemu already answered what we wanted in our mates and then we landed."

Marik snickered as he replied, "So I'm next?"

Ryou and Yugi slightly gaped at him while Mokuba blinked in surprise. Seto and Atemu glanced apprehensively at each other as Ryou timidly replied, "If you'd like?" It seemed more like a question which only made Marik even more amused.

Lavender eyes darkened as Marik seemed to contemplate the question seriously. A few seconds of silence later and he replied, "I definitely want my mate to be a male; women are just too fragile. And while that might be fun for a little while, I want someone with more endurance." Mokuba and Yugi appeared puzzled by this while Ryou, Atemu, and Seto were wondering if Marik meant that in a sexual context or a torturous one. Ryou shuddered, Seto curled his lip up in disgust, and Atemu blanked his face as they all thought, _probably both_.

Uncaring about their thoughts on the matter, Marik continued, "He has to be sexy of course, and he has to be able to take a lot of pain. I want him to be a good little slave." Marik grinned maliciously as his serpentine tongue licked his lips. Yugi and Mokuba glanced at the silent trio in apprehension as the three stared blankly ahead. Unperturbed by their responses, Marik kept describing someone that began to sound more and more like a torture victim.

A good ten minutes passed of Marik talking about what he wanted in a mate. Marik seemed to be taking a sadistic amount of pleasure in recounting all of the gruesome details. Atemu and Seto had long since blanked their faces at the descriptions, while Yugi and Mokuba had both put their hands over their ears. Ryou was the worst off, his face having gone almost bone white, his expression utterly haunted as he plugged his ears and whimpered quietly; dark memories coming to the surface. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and pleadingly looked to his friends, begging them with liquid-brown eyes to make him stop.

Yugi and Mokuba had squeezed their eyes shut a while ago, trusting their brother and cousins to keep them from bumping into something or going a wrong way, so they weren't able to see Ryou's plea. Atemu opened his mouth to cut Marik off but was interrupted himself by a quiet curse. Seto rudely butted into Marik's monologue with an irritated, "Will you shut up so I can tell what it is that I want in a mate?"

Atemu almost lost control of his 'mask' but quickly regained his composure as Marik turned to glare at the brunet. Ryou looked like he was about to faint in shock and Yugi and Mokuba still had their eyes and ears covered; which was easily remedied when Atemu tapped their shoulders. The two looked at him and uncovered their ears as Marik suddenly laughed, "Of course you can little **Hm'ntr**. I was getting bored with the conversation anyway." Atemu raised an eyebrow at this but remained silent.

Everyone listened in curiosity as Seto stared straight ahead and emotionlessly said, "My mate will be a female, sophisticated, intelligent, magically proficient, and of perfect stature. She will be quiet, gentle, and utterly compliant. Perfect in every way and every bit my equal." Yugi, Ryou, and Mokuba blinked at his confident tone as Marik appeared bored.

It was Atemu that lost control of his composure as he openly gaped at his older cousin before bursting into laughter. Atemu laughed so hard that tears sprung to his eyes and Yugi, Ryou, and Mokuba unconsciously joined in. Seto turned his head to glare at his cousin as he snapped, "What? What's so funny?"

They were all still walking and it took a good five minutes before Atemu could finally speak without being interrupted by his laughter. By that time, his stomach was hurting and he was walking forward slightly curled over it, and Seto was glaring at him full out in narrow-eyed anger. When Atemu could finally speak, he replied, "You just seemed so _serious_." He snorted in suppressed amusement while Seto's sapphire eyes just seemed to get angrier.

"_And?_" The tall brunet snapped.

Atemu met his cousin's glare and replied, "Are you _kidding _me? _That's _what you want?"

Seto's glare went frigid as he icily replied, "I _said _that that's what I wanted didn't I?"

Atemu's face lost all amusement as he rolled his eyes in exasperation at his cousin and replied, "Oh _please_. You'd be bored to death with a mate like that." Ruby eyes turned to clash with sapphire as he lifted an eyebrow and said, "For your sake, I hope your mate is a fighter and refuses to put up with any of your shit. Someone who will at least give you a _challenge _and isn't nearly as stuffy as you are. Basically, I hope your mate is the exact opposite of everything you just said."

Seto's lip curled in a sneer as he replied, "Don't just assume you know what I want or need. Only _I_ know what I need; it's _my _life, after all."

Atemu waved the words away as he replied back, "Whatever you say cousin. After all, we'll get to meet our mates soon enough."

Seto opened his mouth to reply back but then shut it. Deciding that he didn't want to talk about it anymore he shifted the conversation over to the one who owed him. "You're next Ryou."

Ryou startled and his face grew paler. Mokuba tilted his head in confusion as Yugi and Atemu watched Ryou in concern. Marik had zoned out several minutes ago. Ryou seemed to be thinking overly hard about something before he took a shuddering breath and said quietly, "I want a girl; someone soft and sweet. Someone I want to protect and grow old with." Atemu and Yugi shared a glance between them as Ryou's eyes took on a look of utter longing. Mokuba smiled at the image and Seto stared at Ryou for a moment before flicking his glances between Yugi and Atemu.

Ryou caught the looks between the two monarchs and quickly glanced down at the ground, know the cause for them. Still staring at the ground as they walked along, Ryou cleared his throat and timidly said, "Your turn Yugi."

Yugi couldn't catch himself in time to stop his blush as he remembered his impression companion; he couldn't help but wonder if the male presence he had felt was just some coincidence. Somehow, he didn't think so. Everyone caught the sudden redness in his cheeks of course; he was a Pale One, his face became like a tomato when he blushed, there was no hiding that.

Ryou and Seto remained silent as they wondered what had happened, while Atemu and Mokuba blinked at the unexpected reaction. Marik looked too bored to bother caring. Mokuba, being who he was, curiously asked, "What's wrong?" Yugi blushed even brighter as he wondered how to explain to the phenomenon to them.

Atemu opened his mouth to ask his cousin about the strange reaction, but cut himself off as a draft of cold air caused him to shiver, and he heard Mokuba, Yugi, and Ryou all exclaim at the sudden drop in temperature. Marik began cursing heavily as he pulled his cloak around him more tightly. Seto narrowed his eyes in annoyance and Ryou began chanting a thermal spell to encompass the four non-shape shifters. A reddish tint encompassed the four, much like a see-through shroud, and they all sighed at the heated air enveloping their bodies. Seto and Mokuba had been caught off guard by the colder air but they remedied that by allowing their inner dragon fire to heat them. Heat radiated off their skin and Mokuba's eyes gained a bluish tint as he used a bit of his inner dragon, while Seto's was always his dragon's blue. They all took a moment to adjust themselves before Atemu wryly stated, "Well, _that _was unexpected."

The path began descending and Ryou stared worriedly ahead as he said, "I hope our mates are okay in such cold weather." He then grimaced at the sensation of the thermal spells' heated air flowing into his mouth; it didn't taste very good, like sucking on a heated rock, and it had the unfortunate effect of drying out his mouth relatively quickly.

The other two innocents looked ahead in concern at Ryou's words while Marik snorted, "If my mate can't survive through this little bit of cold then he's not worthy of being my mate." Atemu rolled his eyes while Seto just ignored the tanned blonde. In an unspoken agreement they all decided to not continue talking until they no longer needed the thermal spells; they had been warned at how unpleasant it was to talk while one was in use, and they understood why now.

They continued along the descending path in relative silence as they grew aware that the air grew even colder; not through any sensation of cold but through the fact that the air around their bodies began to steam. Continuing along, the path slowly straightened out and grew obviously colder before they finally emerged into an enormous room covered in white stuff.

Seto glared at the pile of white in wary distrust and Marik poked it with a booted foot. Atemu shielded the innocent three with his body as he tried to ascertain if the stuff was dangerous. When the whiteness merely shifted beneath their feet and did nothing but make slight _crunch_ing sounds underfoot, Atemu decided that the stuff was safe to interact with.

Mokuba and Yugi were cautious as they regarded the stuff before them before discovering that it was very soft. Ryou crouched down to pick a handful of it up and exclaimed in surprise when it began melting. Soon, all he had in his hand was a handful of water; it was then that something clicked in his mind as he guessed what the stuff was. Shaking his hand to get the now-warm water off of his hand, Ryou stood back up and hazarded to say, "I _think_ that this stuff is snow."

Yugi and Mokuba looked up from their curious regard of the stuff to look at Ryou. Atemu and Seto both blinked before their eyes lit up in recognition of the term; they had heard of snow but had never actually seen it before. Marik growled in disgust as he complained, "_Wonderful._ That means it's so cold that water is becoming solid. _Great, just fucking great._"

Mokuba looked over at his brother, he had never heard of snow before, and asked, "Is it safe?"

Yugi was the one who answered by throwing a ball of snow directly into Mokuba's face. Mokuba blinked the stuff out of his eyes to see a grinning Yugi and Ryou before enthusiastically retaliating by throwing armfuls of the quickly melting snow at his smaller companions. Ryou and Yugi laughed as they ran away, shielding their faces from the cold shower of white as Mokuba chased after them. Atemu and Seto strolled after them, each staying well out of snowball and snowshower range. Marik was complaining under his breath the whole ways as they followed the tire tracks in the snow.

Atemu and Seto were indulgently watching their younger cousins and brother when a sudden shriek sounded at the end of the cavern in the direction they were going. There were two openings that led out of the cavern of snow they were in: the left had a statue of the Ice Master above the opening, and the right had a statue of the Ice Queen above the opening, through which the vehicle tracks went through. However, it was the other opening, the one with the Ice Master, that the sound had emanated.

Yugi, Mokuba, and Ryou froze what they were doing to stare wide-eyed at the opening as several giant, ice-encrusted caterpillars came after them. There were four of them and all of them were easily twice Yugi's size in height. They were the light shade of blue that came from ice, and indeed their outer skin appeared to be made of ice, with several spikes coming out of them. The four bugs charged at the trio and they could see that their undersides and legs were bright green, a split second before Seto and Atemu blocked their views. The older two of the four cousins shielded the smaller men and teen with their bodies as Seto was enveloped in a fine white mist and Atemu pulled his blades. A moment later and Seto emerged from the mist in his dragon form and roared furiously at the bugs, hoping to scare them away.

Mokuba took his brother's initiative and also transformed, though his shifting wasn't nearly as quick. Ryou was wracking his brain on offensive and defensive spells that he could use, while Yugi pulled a two-foot piece of wood from a sheath behind his back, before pressing a small button which enlarged the staff to it's full six feet and took a fighting position.

Behind them all, Marik grinned evilly as he pulled out a wickedly curved knife and rushed headlong into the fight. Rushing past Seto in dragon form, he slashed out with the blade, catching the outer shell of the first caterpillar thing. A metallic scraping could be heard, like nails against steel, before the blade abruptly froze over and shattered. The caterpillar remained undamaged as Marik cursed at the sight of his now-broken knife.

Three of the giant ice caterpillars charged past Marik to engage the others. The one in front of Marik screeched out in outrage as it flung it's ice-spiked tail at Marik. Marik barely managed to dodge out of the way but was caught right at the top of the tail, above the spikes, and was flung to the side to hit the wall. Marik was momentarily winded but quickly regained his feet as he unsheathed his second knife.

One angry bug tried to attacked Mokuba which Seto intercepted with a vicious swipe of his tail; it let out a screech of fury and pain as it was flung several feet away from the teenage dragon and his protective older brother. Mokuba rolled his eyes a bit at his brother in exasperation; in this form, he could take on pretty much any monster, but his brother wasn't letting him play. Seto ignored the dragonish pout as he glared at his downed caterpillar, hoping it would get the message and leave.

The third bug had unfortunately chosen Atemu as it's prey and was getting thoroughly thrashed. Even though his blades weren't cutting it, the spells inscribed into the metal wasn't allowing the natural freezing abilities of the bug to freeze and shatter the blades either. The whirling blades were causing cracks to form in the ice of its shell and Atemu nimbly leaped and swerved out of the ranges of the icy spikes. Atemu wasn't trying to kill the thing, but he was not putting up with any of it's shit either.

The fourth went after a chanting Ryou but was intercepted by a whack on it's sensitive head by Yugi's staff. Yugi shielded Ryou as the albino continued chanting, trusting his childhood friend to keep the bug occupied until his spell was finished; since the spell would be negated if the spell-caster was unable to complete the spell. Yugi cracked his staff against the softer head of the caterpillar as he tried to herd it away from his white-haired friend. Amethyst eyes were narrowed in concentration as he watched the reactions of the caterpillar and was able to discern when it would attack, thus making him able to dodge quickly out of the way. What he might have lacked in strength he made up for in quickness and strategic aim.

The Atlanteans all had the upper hand and could have easily killed any of the bugs, but none of them, except Marik, wanted to kill them. Creatures from the Shadow Realm, like these ones, were rare in this realm and to kill one went against everything they believed in. Indeed, creatures from the Shadow Realm were considered to be special because they could form magical soul-bonding with Atlanteans. To kill a soul-bonded creature would kill the Atlantean to which it was bonded; thus making them the equivalent of a murderer. And though these ones were obviously un-bonded and wild, they were still creatures of their culture, which made them hesitant to kill them.

Ryou's spell finally ended and he prayed that it would work. Seto's bug had gotten back to it's feet to try to impale Seto on one of it's spikes, but Seto lifted it with a taloned hand on the un-spiked area above it's tail and flung the bug away, where it slumped to the ground with a piteous sound. Atemu had managed to break apart a good-sized chunk out of the ice-shell to show the light green flesh underneath. Mokuba was assisting Marik with his bug. Marik's second blade was a dagger and in order for him to do some damage he would have needed to get really close, which he was hesitant to do when it was his last weapon with no guarantee of not breaking when he went in for the kill. So, Mokuba had developed a system of reaching out for the ice-spikes when Marik kept the thing occupied and, using his dragon strength, snapped the tips off so that they were little more than stumps on the shell; the trick was to reach for them deftly enough without impaling his own clawed hands.

Yugi had managed to herd the pain-maddened caterpillar back towards the entrance of the opening. So only he had the opportunity to see the pair of glowing blue eyes from the opening a second before a deep-throated roar sounded. All of the bugs flinched at the sound and shrank into themselves as Ryou sighed a huge sigh of relief; his spell had worked. Yugi backed up quickly from the opening as everyone moved cautiously away from the cowering caterpillars.

When Yugi was standing side by side with his tanned cousin, both with their weapons raised in wary defense, a creature emerged from the tunnel opening from the left. The creature was a big cat that looked very reminiscent of a tiger, except for the fact that it was striped in white and ice-blue colors. And, unlike normal tigers, this one was seven feet tall from paw-pad to ear-tip and had black and gold armor on it's chest, shoulders, ankles, and wrists. The ruffles of what would have been normal fur on a regular tiger, were icicles on this one's fur along it's mane, tail-tip, shoulders, and outer arms and legs. It glanced in the direction of the six Atlanteans and, ascertaining that they weren't attacking it, growled at the cowering bugs. The four caterpillars slinked towards it warily and seemed to submissively shrink away from it as they passed the tiger by to reach the left opening. When the last bug had gone past it, the tiger glanced towards Ryou and chuffed out a sound before turning to Atemu and dipped it's head down in acknowledgment. It then spun around and leaped away, loping on silent paws through the left opening, back from whence it came.

Everyone blinked a bit in astonishment before two white mists enveloped Seto and Mokuba as they reverted back to their human forms. Yugi turned to Ryou and incredulously asked, "What did you cast?"

Everyone had turned to Rou for the answer to the bizarre phenomenon as Ryou blushed in embarrassment at the attention. Timidly, he replied, "Well, all I casted was an assistance spell. I specified it to summoning anything in the area that could help us peacefully send the Numbing Grubs away from us. I didn't want something that would kill them, we could have done that, but I wanted something that could maybe scare them or entice them away."

Atemu grinned and walked over to clap Ryou on the back for his good idea while Seto inclined his head towards the scribe at his quick thinking; better than any compliment that the shape-shifter could have given, which only caused Ryou to blush more. Marik snorted as he whined about not getting to make anything bleed, but that was easily remedied with remembrances of the Numbing Grub's screeches of pain. Mokuba grinned at Ryou even though he kinda wished he could have continued fighting a bit more; it wasn't often he got to do anything even remotely dangerous, and fighting those bugs had been a thrill for the teen. Yugi smiled up at his friend, but he couldn't help but ask, "Numbing Grubs? Is that what they were called?"

They all vaguely remembered the name, but since there were a lot of Shadow Realm creatures, the name was just one more in several thousand; it wasn't even all that powerful of a monster, nor did it have any attributes that could be utilized during a duel, so it was normally used as more of a grunt. Everyone there, except Mokuba, knew the name and illustration of every Shadow Realm creature but it had taken them Ryou's description for their memories to be jogged. Ryou nodded as he stated, "Yes. I remembered it because I had been going through a book of spell components and I remembered one of them referring to the 'Ice-shell of a Numbing Grub in the Ice Barrier'. I probably wouldn't have remembered what it was if not for the fact that the book was relatively fresh in my mind." Seto, Atemu, and Yugi nodded at this explanation; they too had had sudden recollections regarding obscure Shadow Realm creatures while reading. Mokuba didn't much care since he wasn't interested in dueling or Shadow Realm creature biology, he was more interested in other forms of games, like races and guessing-games. Marik simply didn't care because that type of monster wasn't something he would choose for a dueling monster; he was more interested in ones with special attributes.

Yugi tilted his head in puzzlement for a moment before his amethyst-colored eyes cleared as he said, "And that tiger-looking one was Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier."

Memories were jogged and the conclusion was reached that he was correct. Ryou nodded as he thoughtfully said, "I had no idea one was down here though. There are multiple Tiger Kings but I figured that they were all in the Shadow Realm."

Atemu spoke, "If I recall correctly, there was one that had been tamed by an Ice Master that was soul-bonded to a traitor. Since Life Partners of traitors are encased in stone before their Atlantean counter-part is executed, I have to assume that that statue of an Ice Master over there is his former master. He probably won't ever leave this place." Mokuba, Yugi, and Ryou's faces fell at the sad fate but Marik just shrugged indifferently. Seto tugged his brother's shenti sleeve to gain his attention before walking off through the right opening. Mokuba raced after his brother to keep up and the remaining four walked after them silently; Ryou and Yugi still saddened, Marik in obvious boredom, and Atemu deep in thought.

They continued on in silence for several minutes, when the path began ascending. As they sloped upwards, the spell around them indicated that the air was getting noticeably warmer until the reddish tint surrounding them abruptly vanished; indicating that the air surrounding them was the same temperature that the thermal spell had been. With the thermal spell naturally negated, and thus the subsequent unpleasant taste that accompanied talking, everyone was now able to continue talking comfortably.

With a boatload of curiosity regarding the last topic of conversation before the thermal spell was engaged, Atemu glanced at his tri-colored cousin and prompted, "It's still your turn Yugi. What was with the strange reaction you had before we got too cold to listen to your explanation?"

Yugi blushed rather brightly as he wondered how to explain the phenomenon to them. Finally, he just decided to be upfront about it and hesitantly said, "Well…I think I might have a slight advantage over this topic."

_That _got everyone's attention as they all looked suspiciously at the ducked head of the Pale One. Atemu and Seto narrowed their eyes at him twin looks of stubbornness, Ryou and Mokuba showed great curiosity but remained silent, and Marik looked closely at the madly blushing young man before smirking. It was Atemu who broke the ice by asking, "And just what do you mean by that?"

Yugi hesitated a moment before lifting his gaze to meet everyone's eyes before settling them on his closest cousin and embarrassedly stated, "Well, I was planning on telling everyone at the council meeting but then the whole thing with the **kah'gs** came up and I got a bit distracted, so…" He trailed off as his two older cousins gazes seemed to grow sharper in their intensity.

Atemu regarded his younger cousin and authoratively prompted, "Go on." Mokuba and Ryou were watching the whole process in wide-eyed silence as Seto folded his arms across his chest as he continued regarding the amethyst-eyed man.

Yugi took a deep breath and rushed in, "Well, you see, I kind of- might have already sort of…" he paused and seemed to blush brighter, before he slowed himself and looked down at the floor as he continued, "I think I might have already met my mate."

To say Mokuba and Rou were shocked was an understatement while Atemu and Seto were lost in their own thoughts as they soaked that in. Mokuba hurriedly pitched in, "But if you've already met your mate, then why haven't you claimed them yet? Why did you say that you felt the **kah'gs **like the rest of us?"

Yugi glanced up at them all as he sheepishly amended, "Well I didn't actually _meet _him per se, I just-"

He was cut off by Mokuba interjecting, "So it was a guy?"

Yugi blushed heavier as he nodded a bit. Mokuba opened his mouth to ask something else but was waved into silence by his older brother as Seto prompted, "Continue Yugi."

Yugi took a deep breath and replied, "As I said, I didn't actually _meet _him. When I was out hunting earlier I suddenly felt this… impression, of a guy." Everyone stayed silent as they waited for Yugi to continue; Atemu almost interrupted him but refrained himself. When no one said anything, Yugi continued in a stronger voice, "I'm not quite sure what caused it, and it had been before I found out about the whole soul-mate issue with everyone else, so I wondered if it was just some new form of spell that someone had cast. It was only feelings really, no words at all, but we could send each other impressions, like an eye roll or a shrug. It was a little strange but not unpleasant." Here he paused again as everyone soaked in his words.

Atemu had looked away to gather his thoughts as he processed this and then turned his back to his cousin and nodded at him to continue. Yugi inhaled deeply as continued, "We were just kind of talking to each other- well, not really talking to each other- but we were sending each other impressions on our feelings. It felt really nice to have the connection; it felt almost as though our souls were connecting to each other, though I didn't make the connection until later when the **kah'gs **talk came up. If I had, then I wouldn't have asked him to turn off the connection." He added that last bit with a bit of sheepish remorse.

Mokuba was the one who asked, "Turn off the connection? Why'd you ask that? And why did you ask him to do it? Couldn't you have done it?" He was immensely curious about the subject; after all, Yugi was the first Atlantean for several millennia to have actually _began _a mate-bond courtship. Everyone else was just as fascinated, though they were all wondering for different reasons; Seto was suspicious, Atemu was protective, Ryou was worried, and Marik was… well, he wasn't listening to the conversation at all, he was chanting over his broken blade fixing the metal.

Yugi blushed a bit at his remembered clumsiness and explained embarrassedly, "Well, I was technically out hunting when the connecting was made. We were 'talking' to each other for a few minutes and I forgot that I was hunting. So when a waterfowl suddenly flew from its hiding spot near me, it startled me into accidentally dropping my harpoon causing it to scrape against my leg. He felt my pain and was very worried for me, but I wanted to get home without getting further distracted so I asked him to talk to me later. It took a bit of reassuring him that I was alright before I felt it was okay to sever the connection; it feels almost like closing a door. But the reason I had to get him to sever the connecting was because I think the connection could only be established on his side, so I had to ask him for it to be completely closed. He did, but it's been several hours since then; I can't feel the 'door' anymore, so whatever it was that was allowing our connection isn't active. I don't think I'd be able to reestablish it even if I tried." Here, his face unconsciously saddened at the admission.

Atemu opened his mouth to make an inquiry about Yugi's injury when he was interrupted by Mokuba, "So what was he like? What did he 'feel' like, what did he look like?"

Yugi blushed as he hesitantly replied, "I didn't get a visual with the connection, so I have no idea what he looks like; I only know he's a guy because his mental 'voice' was masculine. He was very curious about our connection but he seemed to enjoy 'talking' to me as much I did him. But he was very dark, almost shadowed, and underneath all the emotions he consciously sent me, I could feel a deep wellspring of sorrow, grief, and betrayal underscoring all of that. He had been deeply wounded and he seemed to soak in my lighter emotions, like parched earth does rain. When I was injured, he was deeply concerned for me and wanted to make sure that I was safe; I felt him wondering if there were enemies around and I could feel his sudden aggressive protectiveness at the thought. That was when I felt his sorrow and I wanted so badly to be near him so that I could make him feel better, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to anytime soon so I asked the connection to be cut off." Yugi's amethyst eyes had gained a passionate gleam as he talked about his mate, before he suddenly blushed and looked down in embarrassment as he quietly added, "Plus there was, you know, _that_."

Atemu, Seto, and Ryou all raised their brows in silent bemusement as Mokuba confusedly asked, "_That_?" Marik began to snicker as Yugi's face became strawberry-red.

Yugi squirmed uncomfortably as he blushed and replied awkwardly, "You know, _that_. The… _attraction_."

Marik smirked gleefully as he remarked, "The attraction to jump his bones and ride him into the next millennia? _That _attraction?" Mokuba and Ryou blushed a little at the thought and Yugi was somehow able to become even redder. As he buried his head in his hands to hide his face and groaned in embarrassment.

Seto and Atemu weren't nearly as amused with the tomb-builder as Atemu snapped, "Knock it off, Marik. So what if Yugi found his mate to be attractive? That's kind of the point of a mate-bond." Mark glared at the monarch and opened his mouth to make a come-back, but Seto beat him to it.

Seto sneered, "Besides, it's not as though you didn't burn our ears off for fifteen minutes about all the disgusting things you wanted to do with your mate." Marik glared at the taller man, to that he had no had no reply. Yugi glanced up from between his fingers and quietly thanked his two older cousins.

They had been talking for a good half an hour before they reached a bridge. But the bridge itself wasn't what startled them all, it was the giant piece of stone wall that had collapsed from the ceiling to form a roadblock in the bridge. In the center of the stone road block was a perfectly spherical tunnel that had been recently dug out from the road block, one that was easily big enough for a dragon-sized Mokuba to slip through; though, a dragon-sized Seto would have had to squeeze through.

Marik ran ahead to inspect the damage and sighed in bliss at the perfect destruction of rock. Atemu and Seto regarded the thing in puzzlement, nothing of their culture had the capability to carve its' way though the stone so perfectly in so little time. Ryou was admiring the pretty spiral designs in the rock tunnel as they all continued through it while Yugi and Mokuba ran their hands along the texture as they went along, smiling at the sensations.

They exited the rock tunnel relatively quickly and once again continued along the path. Seto and Atemu conversed about the strange sight and debated what could have caused it while Marik zoned out once again, trying to picture whatever had made the splendid hole and what damage it could do to other things. Ryou, Yugi, and Mokuba talked about other things, random things, just to make conversation. Everyone could see that they were getting closer to their mates, the signs were getting fresher, and the trio were filling in their nervous excitement with superficial chatter.

Another half hour continued like this before they suddenly reached a giant room, circular in nature with an enormous stone bridge in the middle of it, spanning across to the other side. Hanging from the greatly arched ceiling was a cone-shaped lantern that glowed a dimly lit greenish color. But that wasn't what caught all of their attentions. It was the shadowed shapes of several parked vehicles and two much bigger vehicles. Situated around the vehicles were many familiarly-shaped objects; tents. The room was silent save for the sound of sleepy movements, snoring, and slight breathing. The Atlanteans hearts pounded in excitement. They had reached their destination.

* * *

**OMG I'm done with this freakin' chapter! I am SO sorry to everyone for the long wait, but I could not, for the life of me, have finished sooner than today.**

**March was when a book that I'd been waiting for two years to come out was finally released and I just had to reread the entire series before that book to get caught up on what was happening; three weeks had passed with that before I could even begin to focus on this again. (Lover At Last by J.R Ward, excellent book by the way; sexy vampires and the two main characters were both males, can I just say SEXY! Twelfth book in the series, but each one is over four-hundred pages long. QhuinnxBlaylock Forever!)**

**From mid-April to now has been me catching up on all my school credits so that I can graduate. The graduation ceremony is tomorrow and I get my diploma! I'm not really apologizing for the fact that I was working in my studies and didn't have the time, I was mostly apologizing for the March lollygagging regarding the BDB series (Black Dagger Brotherhood), but I couldn't help myself TT_TT. Two years of waiting and gay vampires (not the sparkling kind either), that's all I have to say.**

**Now that I no longer have any of that stuff to deal with and I now have a lot more time on my hands with me graduating, I was able to finish this twenty-eight page chapter (twenty-eight pages! I kid you not!). Now I get to focus more time for the upcoming chapters as well and I hope to never again get as preoccupied as I was with this chapter for other chapters. Again, I am deeply sorry for the long wait TT_TT.**

**I had fun channeling Marik (I could feel my inner sadist raise it's evil little head whenever he was mentioned) though I feel like I kinda flopped with him towards the end ^-^'. Anyway, I felt like I was revolving mostly around Yugi and Atemu which was not my intention and I tried to include the other characters as much as I could. **

**I really liked adding in the references to other Duel Monsters; especially Seto and Mokuba as Blue Eyes White Dragons (I hope I threw you guys for a loop there). I hadn't been planning with the Numbing Grubs but I felt like they just **_**had **_**to fight something in that snow room.**

**Obscure references regarding the surface-world will be explained later, so don't worry about it. **

**Well, I'm going to sleep (Big day tomorrow ^O^) and I'll get back to writing on Thursday. Thanks for your patience to all my viewers and please review! Goodnight!**


	11. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I, FallTigerKisa, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Neither it's characters, themes, nor plots (no matter how much I would have loved to make it into a yaoi). Nor do I, FallTigerKisa, own Atlantis The Lost Empire.

I have since decided that all dialogue will be in Japanese but automatically translated in English, but when the conversations are in English the words will be in English in all "**Bold**", with none of the translated word in parenthesis of course. However, a word written in "**Bold"**with the English translation in (Parenthesis) is in a different language. ~_Italicized~_with little squiggly lines are mind-to-mind conversations. And to really mess with you all I might just put them both together in which they are mind-to-mind in a different language. I assume you all do not need an example. I'm also adding _Italicized_ as regular thoughts.

From now on, I have decided that 'the crew' will describe Mai and Keith and the surviving crew on their side; while 'the group' will be the characters you know and love.

WARNING: Every chapter from here on out has offensive language; thank you Yami Bakura. Also has some sexual references. I will warn you all when it is time for lemons.

I just got fed up with all my page space being monopolized by crap you all should know by now; if you're still reading my story you should already know all the other stuff from previous chapters anyway.

* * *

Ancient Highway to Atlantis, Several Miles under the Atlantic Ocean-Floor

_**~~Atlanteans~~**_

Six shadows silently entered into a largish room currently occupied by forty plus people sleeping off the exhaustion of their fifteen hour trip to this point. Surrounded by the slumbering people in their tents, were several vehicles and a few extinguished camp fires. The only light that could be discerned was that of a dimly glowing green that emanated from a cone-shaped rock lantern suspended above a very large stone bridge in the center of the room. Since this room was so large, it left more than enough space for the explorers to comfortably camp in the space before they reached the bridge. In fact, the group of explorers camped closest to the bridge were still a good fifteen feet away from the base of the bridge, and they had plenty of elbow room. The only sound that could be heard in the otherwise silent room was that of sleepy shiftings, slight breaths, and loud snoring.

Charcoal-gray eyes and eyes the color of amethyst were opened wide in excitement as they surveyed the room. They, like the other four beside them, could all feel the pleasant warmth in their chests all tugging them impatiently towards the source of the sensation; their soul-mates. Shapeshifter Mokuba and his older cousin Yugi bunched up their muscles, about to run into the chamber in their ecstatic search for their mates, when they were grabbed from behind by the hood of their cloaks by powerful hands. The teen and smaller man were both pulled up short and made twin noises of surprise that quickly turned to ones of exasperation when they turned around to shoot their captors annoyed glares.

Ruby-eyed Atemu raised an imperious brow at his younger cousin Yugi to behave as he tightened his grip on the tri-colored haired man. Glancing beside him, Atemu saw his older cousin Seto tighten his grip on his younger brothers' orange cloak. On his other side, he saw that Marik was making his way silently towards the settlement of sleeping people and sent him a thought on the standard telepathic communication, _~Please don't cause any trouble Marik. We're only searching for our mates, not trying to make enemies of people whose capabilities we have no idea of.~_ Marik only tossed his sandy-blonde spiky hair as he sent his monarch a droll stare over his shoulder, not even deigning to give a response; Marik did what he wanted, when he wanted, however he wanted, and no one could stop him unless they killed him. Atemu turned to his other side to see where the last of their six-man party was and saw white-haired Ryou standing beside him, waiting patiently for them all so that they could all go together.

Atemu turned back to his captive little cousin and released him so that he could address him on their own private telepathic wave, _~Don't go just yet, Yugi. We don't want you and Mokuba to suddenly go rushing off in the case that this could be a trap.~ _Yugi looked as though he was about to protest but Atemu rushed in, _~I'm just as excited to finally meet my soul-mate too, but remember, only six of the people here are mates to us, not any of the others, so some of them might not be friendly to us if we just go down there and wake everyone up. They're all probably exhausted and I doubt they'd be overly pleased to have a group of strange people suddenly wake them up; especially if we start spouting off that we're here to find our soul-mates and take them to a magical city. You know how the surface-dwellers have been treating talk of magic in the last few centuries.~ _Here, Yugi's eyes lost a bit of their defiance as he remembered the rumors and talk of things like "the Salem Witch Trials", "mental hospitals", "burning at the stakes", and "hangings" just based off of magical persecution. Yugi fervently hoped his mate, the familiar masculine presence he had shared feelings with, wasn't one of those types of people.

Reluctantly agreeing with his cousin, they weren't guaranteed the safety against any but their six soul-mates, Yugi accepted his wisdom and said, _~Alright Atemu. I won't wake anyone up, and I'll be sure to be careful. But I'm still going to go looking for my mate.~ _Atemu saw the steel in his cousins amethyst eyes and nodded his assent.

Beside him, Atemu saw Seto release his younger brother a few moments later, most likely having given the teen a similar lecture. Atemu opened up the common telepathic wave and warned, _~Remember, we're talking only on the telepathic wave and we're not waking anyone up, not even our mates.~ _Yugi, Ryou, and Mokuba all nodded and Seto folded his arms across his blue-clothed chest. Everyone split up, each moving silently, and Atemu trusted his friends and cousins stealth abilities; he, Seto, and Marik took sword training, Yugi and Mokuba often went hunting, and Ryou was silent from his excursions to study local fauna.

Sensitive to the minute differences in light from living underground for so long, they could see well in the near-darkness, though only marginally better than most people. Still, it gave them all a distinct advantage in their stealth. Marik was no where to be found, but since there was no outburst, it could be assumed he was following directions. Seto and Atemu had the same idea and moved steadily around the camp, surveying the obvious strategic points of the camp in the case of an encounter. Ryou moved timidly through the camp, listening carefully at each tent to ascertain how many people there were. Mokuba and Yugi made their ways to the edges of the camp, both of them letting the warmth in their chests pull them inextricably closer to their soul-mates. They both got closer towards the bridge and Mokuba got side-tracked by the sight of a really big vehicle with a pointed metal cone in front of it. So caught up was Mokuba in his curiosity of the thing that Yugi was the one to arrive in the farthest camp first.

Yugi cautiously moved closer to the center of the camp, smelling the delicious scent of something that had obviously been cooked there. The only sound to be heard was the slight breathing of the slumbering occupants. There were six tents in this camp but he thought he heard the breathing of more than one person in several tents. Not wanting to risk getting caught, Yugi tried to sense where the warmth in his chest was leading him. He couldn't seem to get a pinpoint on which tent it was exactly, and was momentarily at a loss on how to find his mate without waking him, since all the tents were zipped closed and the sound would most likely wake the occupants up.

So immersed was he in his dilemma, that Yugi jumped about three feet in the air when Marik's voice came across the common wave, _~Well, well, well, what do we have here? Looks to me that these people our mates are with seem to have come armed to the teeth.~ _

Mokuba, his confusion spilling over in the connection, asked, _~What do you mean, Marik?~ _Everyone had frozen where they were, not wanting to accidentally alert anyone in the case they did something careless in their distraction.

Seto cursed mentally, _~Damn. The tomb-builder is right. This jeep is filled with crates that contain guns and ammunition.~_

Mokuba chimed in, _~That doesn't mean that they're here to hurt us though, right Atemu?~ _

Atemu replied back, his mental voice thoughtful, _~Technically no. We ourselves brought weapons with us in the case of danger. Them having weapons doesn't necessarily mean that they're here to harm us. But neither does that mean we should trust them.~_

Mokuba reluctantly agreed to this reasoning and Yugi replied back, _~So basically, stick to the plan and don't wake anyone up. Got it.~ _

Seto sarcastically snarked, _~Not unless you want to get shot full of holes. Otherwise, be my guest.~ _He didn't say 'Marik', but it was obvious who that last bit was for.

Ryou, Yugi, and Mokuba were silently glad they were not near the blonde and brunet; Ryou having moved silently towards Mokuba and Yugi, following the pull in his chest and keeping up his count of how many people were in the tents.

Marik stayed silent as Atemu warned, _~Marik, please don't get any ideas about whatever it is you've found. Not waking them up includes NOT shooting anyone. Cousin, please, behave.~_

The equivalent of a mental sneer was felt by everyone from Seto as Marik's mental voice chuckled, _~ Too late, I already had some ideas. But don't worry on that other account __**Hahty'ah**__, the __**Hm'ntr **__would look so much more beautiful with his skin ripped off, not full of holes. Though, the blood splatters would be much prettier if they were caused by the holes. Hmm, maybe I should skin him first and then fill him with holes? But that would still leave a skinless __**Hm'ntr **__with unattractive bullet holes on him. Maybe if I pulled some of his organs through the holes…?~_ Marik continued on in his thoughtful portrayal of Seto's gruesome death, and all the while Mokuba, Yugi, and Ryou could be seen getting paler and paler as the mental anger of Seto seemed to get greater and greater.

Atemu quickly intervened and said, _~Yes, but now that you're getting mated Marik, don't you think your mate will take offense at you doing that to someone other than them?~_

This effectively caused Marik to go silent and the innocent trio to sigh in gratitude at Atemu's diversion. Seto, still simmering at the tomb-builder's blasé contemplation of his descriptive death, followed Atemu in his silent search through the other vehicles' crates. Marik fell into utter silence as he tried to figure out if he was pissed off at the thought of his mate not allowing him to torture other people, or flattered that his imaginary masochistic mate was jealous of his sadistic pleasure; he decided that he was pleased at having such a jealous mate, since, Gods knew, that if his mate ever allowed another to torture him, Marik would kill him.

Ryou could sense his mate close to where Mokuba and Yugi were and ran into the same problem Yugi did; he had no idea which tent held his mate and could only pray that they weren't in one of the three with two people inside the zipped tents. He wondered how he was supposed to find out which one was his mates' and decided to search through the bags and crates beside the closest tent. Yugi, noticing what Ryou was doing, decided to do the same, and began with the belongings beside the tent across and adjacent to the one Ryou was at; since this one gave him the best view-point to watch over Ryou and Mokuba at the same time in case something happened to either of them. Mokuba was still at the weirdly-shaped vehicle, looking pale and taking deep breaths, trying to flush the images brought on by Marik's contemplation from his head.

Ryou opened the first crate up slowly, so as to avoid unnecessary sound, and froze at what he found inside. His pale face went nearly white as he stared at the little red tubes of death; he had seen sticks of dynamite before, and froze like a rabbit that had caught the scent of a predator. Doe-eyes wide in fright, he slowly lowered the top back into place and relatched it, hoping to never, ever, have to come into contact with those again. Making a quick evaluation of the remaining crate and one duffel bag, he guessed that the other crate would also be full of explosives and decided to try his luck with the smaller duffel bag.

Praying that he wouldn't find other instruments of destruction and death, now he knew how the monolith had become a bridge, he cautiously opened the main bag. Clothes. Ryou sighed silently in thanks before inhaling a breath of gratitude. The scent from the clothes tingled pleasantly through his body and Ryou didn't notice that his eyes had closed as he slightly lowered his face to get a better whiff of the delicious scent coming from those clothes. Masculine muskiness mixed pleasantly with burned wood, with a citrusy-spicy undertone of… Tangerine? Sandalwood?

Ryou caught himself as he was just about to put his face up against the fabric of a blue-and-white-striped shirt, before he blushed red like a tomato and dropped the shirt back into its' bag. Ryou shook himself out of his thoughts as he glanced around, hoping no one had seen his reaction. Mokuba was no where in sight and Yugi, thankfully, hadn't noticed his friend's strange behavior. Ryou zipped the main part of the bag up, a little disgusted with himself; he didn't even like guys and yet he had been pretty damn close to stuffing the shirt up his nose, just to get some guy's scent imprinted in his brain.

Shaking his head in disgust at himself for being so rude to some stranger's property, Ryou zipped open a side pouch. Inside was a decently sized box that Ryou cautiously opened in curiosity. A mixture of different scents teased his nose and Ryou's eyes lit up in delight; little, hand-made packets of different tea leaves were categorized in the small box. Ryou hoped fervently that whoever this box belonged to was safe enough to come to Atlantis; he had always wanted to try other teas. There were only so many species of plants that could be used to brew teas at their city, and many of those plants were saved for medicinal purposes. He should know, he went on enough expeditions in the densely packed forests and jungles outside of the city for the plants that Isis needed for her pharmacopeia. Closing the little box after another ecstatic inhale, Ryou continued his search of the other pouches, filled with little knick-knacks.

Mokuba had finally dropped his fascination for the strange vehicle in his continued search for his mate. Again, he ran into the same problem as his friends. He, much less patient than Yugi and Ryou, decided to try every angle of every tent in the hopes that he would suddenly _know _which tent held his mate. Silently and stealthily, he went circles around each tent, trying desperately to search for his mate without waking anyone up.

Atemu and Seto had finished their search of the crates in the vehicles and were trying to figure out which camp and which tent held the leader of the operation; in the case of something going wrong, it was always best to know where the leader was. They found the tent after a few minutes of searching; it wasn't hard. The only problem was that there were two tents that looked ostentatious enough to belong to a leader's tent. All the tents were the same in their design and make, except for the few that were slightly big enough to hold two, but Seto and Atemu had found two tents that were bigger than normal with only one person in each; including the fact that they were both made out of obviously better material. This puzzled the two as they cautiously inferred on why there were two leader tents. Perhaps one was a decoy, for ambush purposes? Were there two leaders? That didn't make any sense, unless they were married. But then why would they share two different tents? Thoughts whirled through the political minds of Seto and Atemu as they conferred with each other and shared their ideas; both were silently enjoying trying to puzzle out the dilemma before them, their strategic minds running through multiple scenarios in their heads.

Marik was no where to be found and continued to be eerily silent.

Yugi had discovered that there were only two bags of belongings from this tent, and he was puzzled when he opened them and found two very different styles of clothes. One was filled with dark clothes of sumptuous material that he vaguely recalled as being called 'leather'. The other was filled with regular cotton fabric clothes of earth-toned colors and whites. Yugi glanced at the tent beside him, missing the blush that suddenly suffused his white-haired friend's face, and put an ear against it, listening in. Two different sets of breathing could be heard, the deep-sleep inhale of one and the lighter, slightly hitched breath of another, as though that one was close to awakening or in pain while they slept.

Yugi rolled his eyes at himself, his soul-mate wouldn't be in one of the _shared _tents, and he swiftly zipped up the first bag. As he was about to zip up the second bag to move on to one of the single tents, something fell out of it, making a slight clatter of sound. Yugi froze as he listened carefully, straining his ears for a change of sound from the tent next to him, his heart pounding in his ears. The deeper breathing remained even but the uneven breath caught for a few seconds longer than they had before. After what seemed like hours to Yugi, the second person resumed their same patterned breath of hitched inhale, deeper exhale. Carefully, Yugi reached down and picked up the thing that had fallen out.

Amethyst eyes gazed at it in confusion, he couldn't see what its' purpose was. It was oval in shape with a flat back with a black-felt protrusion that hinged to open slightly in a downward angle. It wasn't until he felt the slippery smoothness of glass on the other side that he realized he was holding it the wrong way. Sheepishly turning it over, he almost dropped it in his utter astonishment. Stunned amethyst eyes gazed at what he had seen before as a 'framed photograph', indeed there were many that took 'pictures' of the areas that they could see on the surface. But the novelty of seeing his first 'photograph' wasn't what caused his eyes to go wide.

In black-and-white relief upon the silver-framed picture, was the cozy scene of a family of three; an elderly gentleman and two young boys on his lap. The three were laughing and the two boys were staring at the old man in adoration as the elder gazed down at them both with familial pride and love. The three were dressed in clothes that Yugi had never seen before and the 'picture' had been taken in a place he had never been. If not for those defining factors, he would have sworn that he was looking at himself and Atemu as small children in the lap of High Advisor Siamun! Indeed, there was that same self-confident smirk in the Atemu look-alike's eyes, and there was the shy enthusiasm identical to his own in his own doppelganger's smile; even the old man had the same look of patient indulgence on his face that Siamun often regarded them both with. Unable to do anything but stare at the piece of time captured forever in a piece of paper, Yugi could only rove his eyes over it, trying to make sense of it all. It was with a choked mental voice that he sent, _~Atemu?~ _

Atemu, instantly attuned to the minutest of changes in his cousins' mental voice, immediately responded back with great concern, _~What? What's wrong Yugi? Are you in danger?~_ He had already dropped what he was doing and was steadily making his way towards the direction of his cousin's mental voice.

Atemu waited in worried impatience for Yugi to reply back. Yugi did, after a moments hesitation, in a strangely choked voice, _~No, I'm not in any danger, but…~ _He trailed off.

Atemu slowed down, knowing his cousin wasn't in danger allowed him to be able to think clearly again, and Atemu glanced around, flaring out his senses for feelings of wrongness. When nothing set off his protective instincts, Atemu cautiously prompted, _~But…?~_

Yugi replied back, a little forlornly, _~I think you should come see this.~ _Atemu stealthily made his way towards the camp where his brother was at, cursing at the fact that it was the one farthest from the two leaders' camp. A stray thought flitted through his mind, _Had that been on purpose? _He shook the errant thought away; it was just a coincidence.

Yugi could feel by his cousin's mental essence at each remark that he was getting closer to his location, so he continued his study of the photograph in front of him. Now that he was looking at it clearly, he could see that there were several differences about the three in the picture that was proof that it wasn't them. For one, all three of them had their skin colors switched. In the picture it was the Atemu look-alike and the Siamun look-alike that were Pale Ones while his look-alike had the darker skin. If someone had been trying to recreate a scene from their own lives then they would have gotten caught in the lie immediately, seeing how Yugi was the Pale one and both Atemu and Siamun had bronze-colored skin. It made him wonder if this was a real 'photograph' or some weird magic that showed an opposite world.

Yugi startled a bit when he heard the commanding baritone of his cousin say, _~Almost there.~ _Yugi was about to reply when a sudden light came on in the tent a few tents to his right and across from him. Yugi and Ryou froze as Yugi desperately searched for Mokuba, finding him on the tent on the other side of Ryou, the farthest one from the light. Mokuba too had frozen at the sudden light, and all three stared at each other for a second in silent communion; what were they going to do?

Yugi immediately called out to Atemu, just as the zipper inside the tent began to slowly unzip, obviously trying to be silent out of consideration for the other sleepers, _~Atemu, wait! A light just came on and someone's about to come out of one of the tents over here!~ _As silently as he could while still being quick, he stuffed the picture back into the bag and quietly zipped it back up to lay the bag down in its original place. He then motioned to Ryou and Mokuba and the three sprinted on silent feet towards their remaining party members.

* * *

_**~~Jou~~**_

Unseen to the departing Atlanteans, and unaware of their existence, a sleep-ruffled blonde head poked out of a tent. Honey-brown eyes squinted at the sudden light caused by his flashlight as Jou silently untangled himself from his sleep-clinging sister. Hoping to be quiet as he made his way towards his Hummer, he anxiously sneaked by the other tents; he was craving a midnight (or equivalent of) snack but he wanted to keep his tent in view in case his sister needed him for anything, like a nightmare, or if a certain uninvited homophobe decided to try to "persuade" her that she needed someone to "cuddle" up with. Jou narrowed his eyes in disgust at the thought as he promised the asshole a slow roast over a bonfire; if he chopped the guy up into unrecognizable meat, he knew he could pass him off as tomorrow's lunch. The only problem would be the screams.

Silently passing the other tents by, he softly opened the trunk door to his hummer, he knew exactly where and in which crate the dry foods were located. Deciding on some blueberry Poptarts, he kept an eye on the tent he shared with his sister the entire time. Gently closing the door, so as not to wake anybody, he took a moment to put his flashlight under his chin in order to open the little silver-wrapped packet of deliciousness with both hands free.

* * *

_**~~Atlanteans~~**_

Unbeknownst to him, the light from Jou's flashlight bobbled unsteadily across the green-glowing lantern, causing it to glow slightly brighter. The greenish glow flashed red for a moment before reverting back to it's original, though slightly brighter, green. Six silent eyes had seen the effect from their hiding spots; though they were too far from the blonde to see him, they could see his flashlight's beam and the resulting anomaly that had occurred. Six pairs of silent eyes also watched as small glowing bugs flew out of the large lantern and flew steadily towards the other source of light. Doe-brown eyes widened in alarm as he sensed the aura of the spell that had turned the lantern red as he unconsciously groaned quietly, "Spiritual Fire Art – Kurenai."

* * *

_**~~Jou~~**_

Jou, in keeping with picking up after himself, went around to the front of his car to find his portable trash can and threw the wrapper away. Happily sticking a corner of the blue-frosted pastry into his mouth he retook possession of the flashlight in one hand. Turning around to make his way back to his tent, he stopped abruptly when he saw tiny glowing bugs, much like lightning-bugs, flying around his flashlight, obviously drawn to the source of light. Jou cocked his head in puzzlement at these bugs; he had seen lightning-bugs before and these certainly weren't lightning-bugs. Chewing thoughtfully as he moved his flashlight slightly, watching the bugs fly in tandem to the moving light, he tried to puzzle out what they were. They seemed almost like spiders in the way their bodies were shaped, except they didn't have eight legs but the normal insect-six. When he looked closer at one that decided to land on his arm, he noticed that each leg was tipped with a rather largish claw. A little disturbed by the sight, he shook it off, not wanting to get stung or something.

Walking away, Jou swiftly made his way towards his tent. The bright green bugs followed him and overtook him as they flew towards his flashlight. Another one landed on him, his nose this time, and his eyes widened when he saw that the thing didn't have any eyes. It's head was shaped kind of like a worms', with no eyes, and two axe-shape blades protruding on the sides of its tiny 'muzzle'. Not wanting to wake anyone up, but definitely a little freaked out now, Jou shook his head to dislodge the thing and batted them away. His Poptart caught one of them which resulted in an immediate spark that left a black scorch mark on his frosted treat. Honey-gold eyes widened at this new development as the bugs seemed to grow more aggressive. Thankful that there were only a few, Jou smacked one with his hand and had to restrain a yelp when the thing exploded on his palm; it was almost as though he had held onto the burning end of a sparkler. Shaking his hand to get rid of the burning sensation, he glared at the bugs. Using one as a baseball to his flashlight-bat, he sent the little fucker flying off into a nearby camp fire. The cold wood burst into immediate flame which set off the other bugs.

Jou's eyes widened in alarm as the light-disoriented bugs flew directly unto tents, making them catch fire with astounding quickness. Stunned, Jou could only stupidly say, "Fire." Looking around, seeing the lantern above the bridge begin to swarm with the little glowing bugs, Jou jumped into action as he frantically shouted, "_**FIRE! EVERYBODY GET UP! DERE'S FIRE!**__" _Immediately sprinting towards his tent, he opened the zipper making sure his sister was safe as he shook her awake.

Other people awoke to the noise and people began pouring out of their tents, especially those that discovered their tents were indeed on fire, and shouts could be heard all throughout camp. The group, since they were closest to Jou when he shouted, immediately woke up, each one frantic to make sure their friends were safe; though Bakura was more concerned about the crates of explosives next to his tent. Utter chaos ensued as people set about getting their things, making sure friends were safe, assisting in putting out fires, and prepping for departure.

* * *

_**~~Keith~~**_

Keith, one of the last one's to wake from his sleep, glanced at his clock in irritation, he had only gotten two hours of sleep, and growled, "**I'm going to kill him**." Getting up from his cozy sleeping bad, he stumbled for the entrance to his tent and shouted out as he unzipped the thing, "**Get back to bed, there's no-**," he cut himself off as he saw the fire that was razing through his camp. Eyes wide in terror he froze as he gaped like a fish at the sight of the tents all ablaze. His eyes caught the sight of Mai, giving orders to people to put out the fires and the sight of her there frightened but composed, sent a jolt of adrenaline down his spine. Like the coward he was, he grabbed up his belongings and bolted towards the nearest vehicle, his jeep.

Mai, noticing the movement, realized what Keith was doing and ran towards the jeep. Slinging herself into the passenger seat, Keith seemed unaware of her presence and began driving the jeep through camp, driving desperately towards the bridge in an effort to get across it to safety.

* * *

_**~~Yami~~**_

Everyone else seemed too preoccupied with their own tasks to notice the departure of their "esteemed" leader and first-mate, so it was only the group that noticed their swift abandonment. Malik and Bakura sent curses towards the two, Otogi and Honda curled their lips in disgust, Jou was too busy helping his nearly-blind sister to his Hummer to care, as Rebecca, Heba, and Yami glared after them in angry disbelief. Yami, using his spare-part 'crutch' to get up, shouted to his friends in his authorative voice, "**Leave the tents! They're lost causes anyway, and there's no time; get the cars up and running! I want everyone across the bridge, move it!**" Everyone jumped into action, blindly following his orders instinctively knowing that he was someone who would keep them safe, reacting to the authorative levelness of his voice and gaze. Though he was injured and smaller than most men, he seemed to tower over them all with his natural charisma and commanding presence.

Heba gathered up their bags as Honda and Otogi rushed to the truck, starting it up for their departure. Jou physically picked up his sister in his arms and Rebecca grabbed up the three of their bags to rush with Jou to his Hummer; Shizuka sleepily asking all the way why she smelled smoke. Malik didn't have time to empty his sleeping bag full of treasure into his customary bag, so he simply zipped up his sleeping back, tied off the end so nothing fell out, and stuffed it into one of Bakura's crates, much to the russet-eyed man's great displeasure. Malik then grabbed up his other bag, of clothes, and went to help Bakura load the two crates of explosives on to the Drill. Carefully, though surprisingly the crates seemed immune to the extreme heat, they loaded the two crates on the Drill and started it up. Meanwhile, Heba stood beside his brother, making sure he was able to get away safely in case of something bad happening, as Yami shouted out orders to the crew. They all dropped what they were doing immediately to follow Yami's orders, naturally clinging to the aura of strength and authority he radiated. People flowed into the few vehicles or simply gathered their few belongings and ran for the bridge. Utter chaos had broken loose.

* * *

_**~~Atlanteans~~**_

Six pairs of eyes had watched with varying emotions as they watched the scenes unfold before them. Marik, ecstatic at the utter chaos and destruction he got to witness without being nagged at for it being his fault, watched the entire thing with widely delighted, insane purple eyes.

Sapphire colored eyes from a certain brunet glanced every few moments to his right to make sure his little brother was with him and not doing something foolish, like going down there to help; he was currently strategizing the different ways on how they could get to the bridge, and thus the other side, with the least amount of chances at being noticed. Mokuba watched the entire thing in worried displeasure; he wanted so badly to go down there and help, but he knew his older brother would forbid it, saying a dragon could only cause more fire, not extinguish it. He knew his brother was right, but he wanted to help; especially since his mate was down there, dammit!

Ryou was trying to remember all the locations of anything that could explode that was over there, and began chanting an anti-fire spell on the things he knew were explosive; he began with those crates of dynamite he found first, knowing his mate was around them and fearful of having them explode.

Atemu watched, worried for his mate, but interested in the dynamics of the leaders. After all, he had never seen first-hand how other leaders, especially surface-dwellers, reacted to danger, and he was curious to see how they would react. At first, a woman had appeared and began shouting orders in English; she was trying to put out the fires. It wasn't what Atemu would have done; he could easily see that the fires were a lost cause and his first mission would be to get everyone to safety, across the bridge. Instead, the woman was ordering people to try to save their belongings which only endangered more people; Atemu could see from her bearing that she thought she was in charge but Atemu was not impressed if she was their leader. Hopeful that the one in the other leader tent was the true leader, and she a decoy or, at most, a co-leader, he waited for the other person to emerge. This time it was a male, who had obviously been in the middle of irritatedly ordering someone before he froze.

If Atemu was expecting one of the two leaders to be his mate, he was sorely disappointed in that aspect. He felt no tug to the male nor female's direction indicating that neither was his mate, and felt a moment of disappointment that his mate was not a leader. And then he felt utterly thrilled when he saw that neither of them were even leaders at all. The male froze in place and looked as though he was about to piss his pants as he gaped at the sight of tents on fire. He then went back inside, came back out with a bag over his shoulder and ran to a jeep, all without saying a word to his people. When the woman saw what he was doing, she ran to join him and they both abandoned their people to the fire. Atemu growled in disgust at the sight as he saw Seto and Marik sneer at the two's cowardice. Marik had that special glint in his eye as he watched the two drive away and Seto ceased to acknowledge their presences; to him, they were so unworthy as human-beings, that they were less than the dirt beneath his shoe, and he would treat them as such.

Atemu was about to go down there himself, to help those who obviously needed the leadership, when he _did _order them around. Or, at least, someone who _looked _a whole hell of a lot like him. Six pairs of eyes widened in surprise as a man looking exactly like Atemu began ordering people to drop what they were doing to get across the bridge to safety. Atemu was in utter awe, it was an exact replica of himself and he was choosing all the exact same things as Atemu would have chosen. His spine unconsciously straightened as he stared at his replica in wonder; they had the same tri-colored hair, the same angular face, the same self-confident attitude, the same prideful stature, the same commanding aura, even the same narrowing of eyes that he got when he was thinking. The only difference that Atemu could note was that the other man was a Pale One, with skin nearly as white as his cousins beside him. Other than that, he could have been looking at his twin brother.

He noticed that the other was injured since he appeared to be leaning on something when he limped forward a few paces. There was someone else beside him but they were blocked from his sight by a tent. Atemu felt a great curiosity well up inside him as he contemplated the talks the two of them would have, two leaders talking even if the other was not one of the six mates; though he felt that _that _was a bit too much to be a coincidence.

Yugi had watched the fire break out, uneasy and worried for his mate. He hadn't gotten to tell Atemu what he had found and he didn't have the photograph to show him what had unnerved him. But soon he learned that that didn't matter as he saw the proof of his discovery personified before him. The man looked exactly the same as his cousin, even though it was obvious that they were two different people. Yugi had barely noticed the gasps around him as the other man revealed himself, though it just proved to be further proof that he wasn't imagining things. This made him feel infinitely better, since it meant that he wasn't getting a sickness of his mind nor was the photograph some form of illusion-spell.

However, his relief was short lived as his chest suddenly _burned_. Amethyst eyes going wide, Yugi clutched a hand to his chest as he hunched over himself, trying desperately to fend off the immediate explosion that had gone off in his chest. It felt as though a fireball had erupted directly in his heart and spread through his veins like lightning; it was painful only long enough for him to drag in a lungful of air, before it suddenly cooled. Now he felt his eyes widen for a different reason as comprehension swept over him in a wave of elation and terror. Lifting his head to gaze wide-eyed at his cousins' doppelganger, he felt the warmth in his chest dissipate to be replaced by utter longing. He actually took a step forward from the sudden tug he felt towards the man.

Everyone had turned at the sound of a painful gasp to see Yugi hunched over and clutching at his chest in sudden pain. Atemu unconsciously cried out in worry, instantly reaching towards his younger cousin to help him; to which Yugi did not seem to notice at all. Mokuba and Ryou also clustered around their friend in concern and even the tallest of the two had a bit of worry in their eyes as they regarded the purple-eyed Pale One. Obviously not being able to hear him due to the chaos so close to them, Atemu desperately sent to his cousin telepathically, _~Yugi?! What's wrong? Are you okay?~_

Mokuba also pitched in, _~Yeah, Yugi. You don't look so good! Are you alright?~_

Before Yugi had a chance to even register that they were 'talking' to him, Ryou cut in gently, _~Yugi? If you could just tell me what's wrong I'm sure that I cold help with it.~_

Yugi hadn't answered and indeed, he seemed not to even had heard them, as he appeared transfixed by whatever he was staring at. Seto, Marik, and Atemu all glanced in the direction that the mesmerized man was looking at and did a double-take as they realized that he was staring at the Atemu look-alike. Understanding filled their eyes, especially as Atemu suddenly lost his grip on his cousin when he took an unconscious step forward; towards the other man.

Their view of the other man was abruptly terminated when the Atemu look-alike was shielded from their field of vision; the man had been shielded from sight by an old-fashioned truck pulling up between him and the Atlanteans. Some form of movement could be deciphered to indicate that the man and the other unseen person beside him had piled into the truck.

As soon as the other male was out of Yugi's field of vision, his eyes abruptly cleared, especially when Atemu yanked him back into their hiding spot so that Yugi wouldn't be noticed. Yelping at the sudden movement, Yugi glanced up, wide-eyed at his cousins and friends. Mokuba and Ryou were staring at him in concern while Seto and Marik were looking in the direction of the bridge and fire. Atemu's eyes were what caught his attention though. Ruby-red eyes gleamed at him in exasperated amusement. When Yugi just looked at him in puzzlement at the expression on his face, Atemu raised an eyebrow and commented, _~Not that I'm not flattered that your soul-mate is so obviously my __**aten'kheftu**__, I don't think you should be going out there with all the chaos going on. You might end up getting injured from someone panicking too much_.~

Yugi gasped as his face crumpled in embarrassment; especially when he heard Marik snicker. Seto ignored them all in favor of watching for the perfect time to move, and Mokuba and Ryou glanced at Atemu in surprise before noticing Yugi's embarrassment. Liquid-brown doe-eyes and dark-gray eyes both filled with sudden understanding as Mokuba suddenly grinned in relief that nothing was bothering his older cousin other than the fact that he had just found his soul-mate. Ryou still looked a little concerned for Yugi but his eyes showed subtle signs of happiness for his friend. Ignoring the amethyst-eyed man's red face, Mokuba excitedly said, _~That guy was your mate, Yugi? WOW! I thought that it was kinda weird that he looked like Atemu, but if he's your mate then that makes much more sense. Oh! What did it feel like? Was it just like what everyone said it would feel like? Did you-~_

Mokuba was abruptly cut of as a resounding BOOM filled the cavern. All eyes turned towards the bridge and they watched in horror and glee as they saw a vehicle enveloped in fire, this one carrying tanks of fuel in it's bed. Ryou's eyes widened in horror; he hadn't seen that vehicle. Not two seconds later, the fuel tanks were infiltrated by the fire and exploded. It had just reached the base of the bridge though it was the last one to get there. The resulting second explosion reached the lantern that was suspended above the bridge, which caused large cracks to form on the thing. The stone gave way with a loud rumble and dropped unto the bridge.

Atemu, Yugi, Ryou, and Yugi watched, unable to do anything it had happened so quickly, as the lantern speared the bridge, effectively cutting the bridge in half. Unfortunately, the bridge was so large that none of the vehicles had made it all the way across yet; so, when the giant lantern broke the bridge in half, no one was unaffected. Especially when cracks filled the base of the bridge from where the second explosion had originated and the bridge began to fold inward; falling with all its' precious cargo. Marik watched the ensuing chaos with only a hint of concern for his mate, but he saw the utter destruction too beautiful to really care all that much; his mate was just an abstract in his mind, unlike the proof of utter devastation before him. Seto watched the chaos with cold eyes, only slightly worried; and that was for his brother, cousins, and mate. Yugi and Mokuba cried out and Ryou watched in mute terror as the bridge finally bent the wrong way and the base of the bridge broke, making an unnatural arch. Screams could be heard from echoing through the cavern and Seto had to physically restrain his brother when Mokuba tried to run forward; trying to help them even though he knew it was too late.

The giant vehicle that had so fascinated Mokuba was second in line, after the false leaders' jeep, since it had been the closest to the bridge at the time of evacuation. When the bridges' base broke and began falling downward, the newly steep arch caused the vehicles to lose traction and begin falling backwards; into nothingness. Some vehicles might have gotten away if not for the fact that the oddly-shaped vehicle in front lost traction first and began slipping backward, downward, and all the vehicles behind it got caught in its massive bulk and began sliding with it. Screams echoed as the vehicles fell; the only one that might have gotten away safely, the one in front, was suddenly hit by a stroke of karma as the bridge broke directly beneath it at the other side of the base, just as they had reached the other side. Thus, gravity took over. Marik and Seto were highly pleased at that, but Atemu could only feel a hint of grim satisfaction that was overshadowed by his utter terror for his mate.

* * *

_**~~Yami~~**_

Crimson-red eyes scanned for any stragglers as he shouted out orders. He sat beside Heba in the back of their truck, looking out behind them. Otogi and Honda were in front, Honda focused on driving, his brown eyes tight with determination and fear, as Otogi shouted through his walkie-talkie conveying Yami's orders through the black piece of plastic to anyone that was listening in. They were the second to last vehicle of the convoy.

A sudden BOOM resonated behind him, towards the front of their truck, and Honda abruptly swerved out of the way, knocking Yami and Heba against the sides of the interior. Shaking away the pain from when he bumped his injured leg against something, probably a crate, Yami and Heba looked outside to see a pile of flaming wreckage of what had originally been a vehicle. Heba could hear the screams and tightened his grip on his older brothers' shirt, amethyst eyes wide with terror. Yami barely acknowledged his younger twin, only sending him a reassuring glance, before gazing back out with fierce eyes.

They finally reached the base of the bridge and Yami's eyes went wide before he tackled his brother to the bottom of the cargo space. A split second later, a second explosion went off, this time directly behind them and infinitely louder. Bits of metal fell into their cargo space and would have probably given them a great deal of damage had Yami not given them some cover. The explosion had deafened them for a few seconds so they didn't hear Honda's shout to know if they were okay.

Yami's hearing cleared up enough to hear his greatly muffled inquiry and shouted back their reassurances. Heba had sat back up and stared in disbelief at the pile of wreckage that wasn't even remotely similar to that of a car. The scent of burning, everything burning, had dulled his sense of smell so he was lucky to not have to smell the scent of burning flesh. Yami could, but he had smelled it before and ignored it, his eyes narrowed in anger. They didn't hear the sound of the bridge getting splintered under the sudden weight of the lantern, but they definitely felt when the truck suddenly rumbled beneath them. They had the perfect view to see cracks spread from the spot where the vehicle behind them had exploded and their eyes went wide as they felt the bridge jar beneath them. Otogi suddenly yelled out front and Honda joined him. Turning their heads, the twin's both saw the sudden looming figure of the Drill begin to fall backwards. Towards them. And every vehicle between them.

Screams could be heard everywhere and vertigo suddenly hit Yami as the truck screeched down to the bottom of the arch of the bridge; the truck then fit free fall. And what do you know? The truck was falling ass-end first so that it was perpendicular to it's original position on the bridge. It happened so suddenly that Yami didn't even have a chance to grab hold of anything. Which is probably why he fell out the back of the truck.

The only thought that went through Yami's head as he went into free fall was something his Grandpa had once told him. _If you fall asleep before you hit the ground, then you're dead_. Maybe that was why he passed out.

* * *

**Hey all! I just finished this as I'm about to leave for Graduation Dinner with my family (it was pushed off to today cuz I had family from out of town to have on actual Graduation Night). I just thought it was funny; I finished the last chapter the day before graduation day and this one gets posted a week later before graduation dinner. Just a little ironic (especially since I had forgotten it was tonight).**

**I put in a little foreign word that I didn't explain; it will be explained fully in later chapters.**

**Again, I'm having fun channeling Marik (evil laugh). Well, they didn't get to meet yet but you know… that's definitely for next chapter. (SORRY! TTOTT)**

**Sorry to leave it at a cliff-hanger but this is a good place to stop. I want to thank my viewers and reviewers for their support! Please keep up the reviews. So, see you all next chapter!**


	12. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I, FallTigerKisa, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Neither it's characters, themes, nor plots (no matter how much I would have loved to make it into a yaoi). Nor do I, FallTigerKisa, own Atlantis The Lost Empire.

I have since decided that all dialogue will be in Japanese but automatically translated in English, but when the conversations are in English the words will be in English in all "**Bold**", with none of the translated word in parenthesis of course. However, a word written in "**Bold"**with the English translation in (Parenthesis) is in a different language. ~_Italicized~_with little squiggly lines are mind-to-mind conversations. And to really mess with you all I might just put them both together in which they are mind-to-mind in a different language. I assume you all do not need an example. I'm also adding _Italicized_ as regular thoughts.

From now on, I have decided that 'the crew' will describe Mai and Keith and the surviving crew on their side; while 'the group' will be the characters you know and love.

WARNING: Every chapter from here on out has offensive language; thank you Yami Bakura. Also has some sexual references. I will warn you all when it is time for lemons.

I just got fed up with all my page space being monopolized by crap you all should know by now; if you're still reading my story you should already know all the other stuff from previous chapters anyway.

* * *

_**~~Heba~~**_

Heba awoke to the sound of groans of pain and metallic clanging, but when he opened his eyes to try to piece together where he was, he didn't see anything. He felt a slight panic that everything was pitch black and tried to remember what had caused it. Had he suddenly gone blind like Shizuka? It took him a moment to remember who Shizuka was and how he knew of her.

Everything came rushing back. The expedition, his new friends, the fact that they were going to Atlantis, and that he had the Sheppard's Journal. Then the bad things invaded his mind too. The underwater creature that sunk their submarine, the Duel Monster's, the utter destruction of a beautiful monolith. Things were becoming more recent now. The room full of snow, camping near a bridge with a stone lantern hanging suspended above it, the talk before bed with his new friends, then sleep. Waking up a few hours later, shouts, heat, fire, glowing bugs that caused the fire swarming around everywhere. Was he dead?

Getting to the bridge, the sudden weightlessness as the bridge dropped from beneath them. Getting jostled as the vehicle he was in and the vehicles around him fell backwards from the bridge, getting jarred as they landed but the rocky stop also sloped downward, falling into a deep trench, utter darkness except for the sight of Yami-

Amethyst eyes shot wide open in terror as Heba shot up with a shouted, "_YAMI!_" The sight of his twin brother, his best friend and only family left, falling out the back of the truck when they were in mid-air almost had Heba hyperventilating. He looked around frantically but was unable to see through the darkness. He remembered the last sudden jar as they hit the ground before his head connected with the side of the interior of the truck he was in. A sudden pain radiated from his skull as this realization hit him and he put a hand up to his head. Warm wetness seeped through his fingers that he assumed to be blood.

A little disoriented, Heba patted around, hoping against hope that his brother had somehow miraculously landed near him. No such luck. There were crates everywhere and he realized he was probably still inside the truck's interior. Crawling towards the front Heba remembered that two of his new friends, Honda and Otogi, were supposed to be in the front seat of the open-aired truck and he felt concern for them.

Finding the panel that separated the front seats and the interior of the truck he slid it open. He heard a groan immediately to his right and the sound of breathing to his left. Heba, still holding his bleeding head, croaked, "Honda? Otogi?"

The voice that had groaned coughed a bit before replying back groggily, "Heba?" It was Otogi. Heba didn't even have time to reply back before Otogi shouted out, "_HIROTO!_" Heba winced at the shout so near his ear but moved out of the way as Otogi lunged past him for the other seat, searching in the darkness for his lover. A quiet sob was heard from Otogi as he found Honda and they were silent for a moment as they listened for Honda's breathing; it came out as a yell when Otogi did something that Heba couldn't see.

The sound of rustling could be heard before Honda's voice, a little confused but relatively normal, came from the other seat, "Jeez, Ryugi. You didn't have to squeeze the ever-living shit out of me. You're a lot stronger than you…" He trailed off as Otogi continued just clinging to him in the darkness, the sound of his sobs of relief being heard. Greatly concerned, Honda asked, "What's wrong? Are you okay? Why is everything so dark?" A sudden groan of pain close to their truck caused an immediate reaction in Honda, the doctor in him coming to life and a sudden influx of memory flooded his brain. Frantically making sure that his lover was safe as he called out for his other friends that he remembered were supposed to be in the back of the truck he had been driving. "Heba?! Yami?! Are you guys okay back there?" Otogi didn't appear to be injured but he still remained clinging to his boyfriend's chest, his sobs trailing off into weak panting as his terror abated and the adrenaline seeped from his body leaving him shaky.

Heba replied back, "I'm right here but Yami…" he trailed off once again terrified for his older twin.

Honda and Otogi heard the quaver in his voice and it was enough to make them fairly alarmed; they really liked the crimson-eyed man. He had been the first one of their expedition aside from their friends to accept them for being gay. And when the fire had broken out it had been Yami to rally everyone together and try to lead them to safety. Honda, experienced in dealing with distraught family-members, calmly inquired, "Is he alright? Did his wound open back up?" Their eyes were adjusting to the darkness enough so that they could see relative shapes, and Honda scooted over in his seat towards the partition where Heba was at.

Heba hesitated a moment before he replied back, unshed tears making his throat huskier, "He's not here. When we started falling the first time, he fell out the back of the truck." Otogi and Honda felt their eyes widen; that didn't sound good for their new friend.

Honda, trying to be a little optimistic, said, "Well, we should probably start looking for him outside then." He prayed that they wouldn't find the other man dead; Heba wouldn't be able to take the trauma of seeing something like that. Assisting Heba through the partition, the three cautiously exited the truck. They could hear people groaning in pain and smell the scents of upturned earth and something metallic, but they could still only see vague shaped from the little bits of light that they were given.

Two sets of sudden cursing, one in Japanese and the other in Egyptian, had the three sighing in relief; their other two friends were still alive if they were cursing up a storm that big. Other voices could be recognized as well, but Heba was listening hopefully for an authorative baritone that he had grown up with all his life. He felt dread when he didn't hear Yami speak.

A sudden light flamed about six feet away from them, and they could see the familiar face of a certain albino glaring at everything as he held his lighter up. The familiar snarky tone of the russet-eyed Bakura called out in English so everyone could understand him, "**All right, who's not dead? Sound off you motherfuckers, or die.**" Yep, that was Bakura. Groans could be heard but everyone answered back with their voices.

Jou could be heard replying angrily back, "Fuckin' bug bit me!"

Honda called back worriedly, "I hope they aren't poisonous. If they are then someone's going to have to suck out the poison."

Malik snickered as he teased back, "Don't everyone go jumping in at once."

Everyone groaned at aches and pains as Rebecca shouted a "Yes!" before a set of headlights turned on to their left. The Hummer was in better shape than a lot of the other vehicles though it was at a slight angle from the way it landed on an uneven cluster of rocks. Shizuka stood next to her near the front seat as the pre-teen tried to start the engine. No luck. It only had enough juice to turn on the lights. Others saw what she did and turned on their own vehicle's headlights. Honda immediately set to work on assisting those with injuries, Otogi acting as his nurse.

Keith and Mai were a bit farther away from the rest of the crew, near their busted jeep, but they were still within relatively close range. Keith, trying to reassert himself, called out, "**Rebecca, give me a damage report.**" Everyone in the group startled at the sound of his voice before turning towards him to give him and Mai glares and sneers. No one else in the crew gave the two any negative thoughts; they had all been too busy with the fire to notice when they had both left the crew behind without leadership, and no one but the group had seen the two cowards drive away. Only a few others in the crew had thought it odd that the crimson-eyed veteran explorer had taken charge during the outbreak, and those few looked around for the shorter man instead, seeking his leadership instinctively.

Rebecca, cursing internally at the fact that she had to still listen to this guy, said under her breathe, "I wish they had gotten squashed instead of some of the others in the crew." Only Shizuka could hear her and the auburn-haired young woman tilted her head in puzzlement at the pre-teens' word; she was almost blind and had therefore not seen the two leaders drive away in their time of need. Still, the younger woman kept silent as was her way as Rebecca assessed the vehicles. Her bespectacled eyes noted everything and said begrudgingly, "**They're not as bad as they could have been. We totaled rigs 2 and 7, Jou's Hummer could use a jump-start, the trucks look fine, and the jeeps are scrap-metal. The Drill looks like it'll still run.**" She was pretty surprised at how well everything was considering their fall and looked down at her feet. Scuffing her boot on the dirt floor she saw that it was pretty springy and loose which would account for the relatively soft landing. Continuing in an undertone, she remarked, "**Lucky for us we landed in something soft.**"

Marik, at the Drill near where Rebecca was at, heard her comment and looked down himself. Squatting down in the dirt, he picked up some of the dirt particles and held it up to the light. Realization slammed into as he recognized it and remarked aloud to himself, "**That's ash. We are standing at the base of a dormant volcano.**"

Everyone straightened at this in alarm as Mai looked up thoughtfully. Where there was a volcano, that usually meant that there was an opening for the magma to come out. Pulling out her flare gun, she fired it off upwards and everyone looked up to watch its ascent, a bright flare of yellow light trailing gray smoke in it's wake as it flew upward. The flare just kept going up and Mai remarked, "**It just keeps going.**"

Bakura wondered if that meant that it was merely a night sky above them remarked to Malik, "Maybe that's our ticket out of here." A moment later, the flare exploded as it hit something solid so high up that it barely made a popping sound.

Malik was too busy having fun with the ash to notice what Bakura said so it was Rebecca that replied back, "Guess not."

It was the sudden light of the exploding flare that attracted to Malik looked up and remarked, "**The magma has solidified in the bowels of the volcano, effectively blocking the exit.**"

Otogi glanced at Honda and mock-whispered, "The same problem mom has with sauerkraut." Honda choked back a laugh and Heba, close enough to overhear them, stared at the couple with a look of disgust on his face.

Jou had moved closer to his little sister and glanced up from his worried perusal of her to stare at Malik in apprehension. Alarmed, he said, "**Hold on, back up. Are you sayin' dat dis whole volcano can blow at anytime?**"

Malik unconcernedly stated, "**Nah. That would take an explosive force of great magnitude.**"

At the 'explosive' part, everyone looked over towards Bakura. The albino narrowed his eyes at all of them and snarled, "**Like I want to blow myself up. The dynamite is still in their cases, relax. We're just lucky they didn't explode when the fire began.**" Everyone shuddered at the very real possibility of _that _having happened.

Malik glanced at the crates in question and curiously remarked, "You know, all things considering, we were near the epicenter of where the fire started. We're really lucky that those didn't explode. What company did those crates come from, they must be pretty good stock cuz they don't even have any scorch marks on them." Malik was right, and that was very surprising. Bakura shrugged, he had wondered the same thing about their seemingly good luck, but he brushed it off. Obviously his dynamite wasn't supposed to kill him; yet.

Keith, not knowing Japanese, was still on the volcano and remarked, "**If we were to blow the top off of that thing, we'd have a straight shot to the surface.**" Still trying to get back into the crew's good graces, Keith deigned to ask the veteran explorer, "**Mr. Mutou, what do you think?**"

Everyone turned to look for Yami but all they saw was Heba; Honda and Otogi winced as they realized that Yami still hadn't been found yet as Heba's eyes filled with tears. Swallowing them down, Heba thickly replied, "**I don't know where Yami is.**" Their friends looked shocked and stricken at this while Keith tried to hide the surprised satisfaction in his gaze. He hadn't even had to arrange an 'accident' for the freak.

_**~~Atlanteans~~**_

Having watched the vehicles fall down the trench underneath the broken bridge, the six Atlanteans could now leave their hiding spot without being seen by the other people. Seto steered his brother around the large fire as Ryou began chanting a rain spell, thus effectively putting out the fires. The small bugs that had been spelled by the lantern to set fire to anything they came in contact with, had all either died or flown away since their nest. The lantern that had hung suspended above the bridge had broken and was what had served as their nest in a symbiotic relationship. The lantern gave the bugs that lived in it a safe home and spells that would guarantee their safety from predators, while the small Shadow Realm bugs, Insect Monster Tokens, gave up bits of their life energy so that the lantern could remain 'alive' in return.

Marik was enjoying himself amongst all the destruction as the other five went directly to the trench, expecting to see a blazing pile of wreckage at the bottom. Instead, they saw only the remains of the bridge and another hole that sloped downwards into the cliff where they were standing, and thus out of their sight. Mokuba looked up at his older brother in pleading and the icy-eyed man turned towards Atemu. Grimly, Atemu looked at his two cousins and said, "Time to go down and make sure our mates are alright." At the mention of 'mate', Yugi flinched. The others caught the motion and gave him sympathetic glances; he had been the only one to actually see his mate and feel the connecting of souls they shared before the man had fallen down the hole.

Twin mists enveloped the shape-shifters and Ryou and Marik began chanting the harness spell. A moment later, the two Blue-Eyes White Dragons stood where the two brothers had been, covered in the golden harnesses that would keep their passengers safe during flight. Ryou and Yugi climbed on to Mokuba as Atemu and Marik climbed on to Seto. Everyone was silent in their dread and fear for their mates, everyone except Marik who was remembering the screams and explosions; thoroughly enjoying himself. Seto and Mokuba shook themselves to make sure the harnesses stayed in place and jumped off the edge a moment later.

The two dragons glided down in relative silence and managed to squeeze through the hole that led to a tunnel. The tunnel went onwards but it split off. Both tunnels sloped downwards but one went further into the interior while the other went down in the opposite direction. Unsure of which way to go, the two dragons hovered in place as they glanced at Yugi, the official guide through these underground tunnels. Yugi scrunched his face up in concentration as he looked for anything that he could use as a directional sense. Seeing several things that he slightly recognized, the young man hazarded to say, "I _think _that those two tunnels connect a little ways down the road. That one," he points to the one going further into the interior, "goes _away _from Atlantis and will eventually lead us to a tunnel that can go to the original set of roads we came from, or in the direction of Atlantis. That one," he pointed to the other one, "connects with the other tunnel but is technically closer to Atlantis. We should probably go down that one since, if they have a good cartographer, then they'll be able to take them to Atlantis from either tunnel but this one will mean they'll have to pass us if we chose the wrong one. If we choose that one and they wound up going through the other one, then they'll reach Atlantis before we reach them."

Trusting his older cousin, Mokuba immediately went through the second tunnel as Seto followed silently behind. They soon emerged into the top of a pretty big cave. A tunnel could be seen from the direction they thought was the other tunnel from their view point and another tunnel that they knew led to Atlantis. Looking around, the six Atlanteans saw no vehicles, which meant that they had taken the wrong tunnel. But since, according to Yugi, they would have to pass by this cave on their way to Atlantis anyway, they didn't think anything was particularly wrong. Seto and Mokuba had just set down and were waiting for Ryou and Marik to uncast their harness spells when Yugi suddenly gasped.

Atemu glanced at his brother in alarm, only to see Yugi jumping off Mokuba to sprint towards a rock beneath the tunnel they had entered from. Atemu immediately saw the unconscious man that was laying up against the rock. Ruby-eyes widened as he recognized his **aten'kheftu**, the man who was also his younger cousin's **kah'gs** (soul-half). Atemu and Ryou both jumped off immediately to see if they could assist Yugi and Mokuba transformed back into his human form. Marik took his own sweet time getting off Seto, so the older dragon simply swung his body so the tomb-builder would fall off now that the harnesses were off. Marik cursed at the dragon in Egyptian as Seto ignored him and melted into his human form to stride after his brother.

Yugi skidded to a halt in front of his prone mate and immediately searched him over for injuries. Aside from a few scratches the other man appeared unharmed in the way of broken bones and concussions. The only injury that Yugi could see was that his pant leg was soaked in blood; he was forcefully reminded of his mate limping before they went over the bridge. His mate's face, so much like his cousin's that it was uncanny, was scrunched up in discomfort and he appeared close to awakening soon. Not wanting to wake him up, Yugi sent on the common telepathic wave, _~Ryou? If you have any medicinal potions or herbs for him I would appreciate it please. He looks like he's going to wake up soon.~_

Everyone heard Yugi in their minds and Seto immediately grabbed at Mokuba, he didn't know the other man and he wasn't going to risk Mokuba's safety near a stranger; even if he was his cousin's soul-mate. Mokuba complained to his brother at the manhandling on their own private telepathic wave to which Seto completely ignored. Instead, he grabbed his younger brother and began steering him towards the tunnel that led to Atlantis, being tactful enough to allow the two soul-mates their privacy; even though there were three others that weren't. Marik had wandered over to see the bleeding wound to which Atemu deftly intercepted and steered the other male away, in the same direction as Seto and Mokuba. Ryou did indeed have a potion that Isis had given him; now he knew why it was only one that Isis, a powerful seer, had allowed him to take. Handing it over to Yugi, Ryou waited only long enough to give him instructions on how to administer it before he sprinted after Atemu; he certainly didn't want to be a third-wheel. Alone now with his mate, Yugi startled when the other man groaned, almost dropping the small vial of liquid in his hand in his fright.

* * *

_**~~Yami~~**_

Awareness came slowly for Yami. Along with awareness came red pain that radiated upward, from his leg. The burning sensation became worse as his mind came closer to the surface and it took him a moment to remember why his leg hurt so much. He had slashed it while they were being chased by a Duel Monster in an escape pod. While they were on their way to Atlantis. Memories flashed through his mind and he remembered the fire and the bridge. He remembered falling out of the back of the truck as they were falling and seeing Heba's eyes widen in panic before everything went black.

Amusement flashed for a second as he remembered his last thought before he went over. Obviously his grandfather was wrong, if the pain in his leg was any indication. His amusement fled him when he moved said leg a bit and he almost passed out again from the pain. An involuntary groan left him from the immense pain but he was further relieved since it was proof that he wasn't dead. Gritting his teeth, hoping to find his brother somewhere nearby him, he opened his eyes to take stock of his surroundings.

Crimson-red eyes narrowed in pain clashed with widely startled amethyst. For a split second, Yami thought he was looking at his brother. But before he could even register who he was looking at, his body warmed and hummed in ways it had _never _done for his brother. The warmth that had been in his chest since they had arrived here, abruptly vanished only to be replaced with utter longing. Now he _knew_ the other person wasn't his brother. In fact, he had only ever done had that effect for one person. Yami quickly glanced away from those amethyst orbs, so like his little brothers', and perused the face that went with them. Yep, just like Heba from the face, hair, aura, and bearings. The only difference was that this man was pale and was wearing different clothes. In fact, he was wearing something that he knew Heba had never worn before outside of a costume party. A white Egyptian-styled shenti emphasized his slight but toned body. Gold winked at him from his upper arms, ankles, wrists, around his hips acting as a belt, and an intricate pectoral that held his royal purple cloak. Petite white shoes poked out from beneath his cloak as he crouched in front of Yami.

Yami took in all of this at a glance and returned his gaze to those wide eyes, so very like his twin's that it was a little unnerving. But he recognized him, and he couldn't help but smirk a bit as he remembered that his guess had been right. When he had seen the angelically sleeping face of his little brother's mirror image when he was onboard the submarine in his vision, Yami had gotten the feeling that if the other were to open his sleeping eyes then they would be the same shade of amethyst-purple as his brother's. Some unknown place in his heart was ecstatic that he had guessed correctly and Yami decided not to look too closely at that part of himself.

Yami realized peripherally that he was in a cave and that he was leaning up against a rock, but he couldn't seem to pull his gaze away from the other person in front of him. He noted with satisfaction that the other seemed just as distracted by him as he was with the other man. So caught up was he in soaking in the sight of his vision-come-to-life that he forgot he was injured and rearranged his leg for further support.

The flinch and hiss of pain that accompanied the movement seemed to break the spell that had enshrouded them and caused the Heba look-alike to jump in surprise. Yami glanced down to see his pant leg soaked in blood and figured that his wound had reopened, possibly even gotten worse. He completely missed the look of shame that creeped into light-purple eyes.

Yami glanced up when he heard a slightly metallic sound and raised an eyebrow when he saw that the sound had been caused by the other person unsheathing a knife. A knife that was very reminiscent of one's he had seen in museums and collection books that his grandfather had owned regarding ancient Egyptian artifacts; the only difference was that those one's had been centuries to millennia old and had looked it, while this one looked fairly new. The blade was more rounded than most daggers and the hilt was made up mostly of gold and silver, possibly platinum, looking somewhat 'pillar-like' in it's design with gems that winked purple in the light.

Yami felt his curiosity pique, he had grown up seeing these types of daggers in textbooks his grandfather owned and he was just as interested in Egyptian archeology as the rest of his family. When he saw the dagger move down to his leg Yami waited to feel any sense of alarm, but he felt only curiosity. Looking back up into the stranger-who-wasn't-a-stranger's eyes, he saw that the other male had paused and was trying to convey a sense of reassurance with his eyes.

To show him that Yami felt no fear of him or his dagger, Yami leaned back, seeming as though to get comfortable, and waved a hand for him to continue whatever it was he was doing. The other man seemed surprised for a second before a hint of some inner amusement glinted in his eyes. Purple eyes suddenly became serious as the man turned back to Yami's leg and began cutting at the blood-soaked material. Yami tilted his head as he heard the other man mumble something under his breath, but it was too quiet for him to hear. Disappointed that he hadn't heard the other man, Yami almost asked him to repeat himself, but refrained since the other was wielding a knife very close to his injured leg and he didn't want to distract him.

His leg had been bared enough for them both to see the damage and the purple-eyed male flinched at the sight. Yami was much more composed since he had technically already seen his leg damaged before; it didn't look much different than when he had injured it the first time. The stitched had broken and blood seeped from the wound, showing bits of dark-pink muscle and white bone. The other almost put his fingers to the black stitches, appearing curious in spite of the horrible sight, before pulling his hand back quickly as though he was afraid to cause Yami more pain. Yami appreciated it though he didn't think it was particularly necessary, whatever the other did was going to hurt no matter what. Yami even opened his mouth to tell the other to not worry about not hurting him when he noticed that the Heba look-alike was uncorking a bottle in his hand.

Tilting his head in renewed curiosity, Yami closed his mouth to watch the other man do whatever it was he was doing. A quick tug and the small golden vial came uncorked. Amethyst eyes flashed upwards to look at Yami in uncertainty before he gestured to the vial in his hand and then made a hand motion to his injured leg. Deciphering it to mean that whatever was in the vial would be something for his leg, Yami nodded his assent, though he was a little wary of what he was planning on doing with just a liquid; he wondered if the other man was going to bring something else out to seal his wounds.

Closely watching his brother's look-alike, but definitely curious, Yami stayed silent so as not to distract him from whatever he was doing. The look-alike's eyes had filled with relief at Yami's permission and he kept shooting glances at him as though he was trying to gauge his reactions to his movements; like one would with a small creature that needed constant reassurance lest you get bitten.

The pungent smell of mint and something basil-ish burrowed into Yami's nose from the opened bottle. He had smelled weirder combinations but the strength from both was enough to wrinkle his nose. The other looked faintly amused at his new expression but he was more focused on pouring a glowing golden liquid unto his hand. Yami stared at the strange sight, it looked almost like the liquid from a yellow glow stick but this liquid stayed attached to the Heba look-alike's hand, even when he held his hand up the liquid defied gravity and encased his hand and refused to run down his arm like a normal liquid would. Slightly unnerved by the sight but refusing to show weakness, Yami kept his expression neutral.

His eyes were immediately drawn to a small movement as the other man's tongue slipping out between his lips to wet his cupid-bow mouth in concentration, and Yami felt his body heat up. Eyes riveted to the sight of that pink tongue poking out of those pouting lips, Yami barely noticed when he lifted the glowing hand and reached for his wound.

Yami hissed in a split moment of pain when that golden hand fell upon his open wound, before a comforting warmth spilled through him, emanating from his leg. Amethyst eyes closed and Yami saw the golden glow transferring from his hand to Yami's leg. Yami watched in awe as the golden glow flowed off of that hand and only when all the luminescent liquid was on his leg did the Heba look-alike take his hand away. Yami felt a second of disappointment at the removal before his focus was suddenly centered on his leg. His wound was gone and all that remained was a glowing golden handprint that slowly dissipated as Yami watched with disbelieving eyes.

Yami looked up to stare at the purple-eyed man before him, utterly overwhelmed and unable to speak. The other glanced away in shy bashfulness at the obvious awe and seemed too uncomfortable with it to speak just yet. Not that Yami knew what language he spoke, _probably Atlantean. I should have taken a look at Heba's Journal to look up the language while I had the chance._ Yami suddenly startled as he remembered his brother. Heba must be frantic, unless he was-

Yami shook his head rather forcefully as he refused to even finish that sentence, even in his head. The person before him glanced up at Yami's sudden movement and Yami opened his mouth to reassure him but didn't get the chance as the purple-tipped head suddenly shot up and jerked around to stare at a tunnel near them in surprise. Yami glanced in the same direction and suddenly noticed a deep rumbling coming from that direction. Yami recognized the familiar sound of the Drill but the shorter person in front of him seemed to think that it was something dangerous, because he suddenly grabbed Yami by the hand and pulled him up, shooting the tunnel entrance alarmed looks. Yami felt a tingle of awareness spark between their joined hands and felt warmth shoot up from his hand and travel throughout his whole body.

Yami was so disconcerted by the sensation that he didn't notice that the other male had pulled him to his feet with a surprising strength. He suddenly found himself on his feet with no pain in his leg, and as soon as he was stable he was tugged urgently towards a different entrance tunnel. The Heba look-alike pulled him through that tunnel and Yami found himself running to keep up with him as he was dragged inwards.

Focused purely on the person dragging him along, Yami didn't know how long they ran but it couldn't have been more than a minute. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings and just as Yami was about to call out to him, he suddenly heard a deep-throated roar come from ahead.

Yami felt his eyes widen in alarm; that was most certainly _not _anything that he was familiar with and sounded decidedly organic. And angry. Yami was barely able to skid to a complete halt before he rammed face-first into a stone wall, losing his grip on the other man as he continued on though with his forward momentum into a hole in the wall that he had barely been able to squeeze through.

Yami's eyes widened at the separation and he thought he saw the other glance backwards at him in puzzlement and terror before the rock wall disrupted his view of each other. Light poured through the hole and he sensed movement beyond the hole, and he thought he heard a shouted scream on the other side. Galvanized into action by sheer terror for the other person that he instinctually recognized, Yami clawed his way through the barely-large-enough hole with a much-needed suck-in of the stomach area.

The grayish light of a cloudy day enveloped Yami and he had to pause a second to let his eyes readjust to the sudden influx of light; after being underground for so long, his pupils were a tad light-sensitive. He glanced around for the other male and found himself utterly alone. He stood on a grass and moss-covered ledge that protruded from a piece of a mountain.

Yami found himself unable to move from his spot. What stopped him in his tracks though was the sight before his eyes. Crimson eyes widened as he gazed out before him and felt his mouth part in awe at the sight. Dully, he could hear the approaching sound of the Drill behind him but he still could not bring himself to move from that spot.

The cracking and tearing away of rock came from behind him but Yami didn't even flinch. Dimly Yami heard his name being shouted from behind him and he recognized his little brother's voice, rife with relief. He heard others shouting his name and running towards him before the footsteps slowed and the voices faded away in mid-sentences and questions. Utter silence pervaded the lonely rock protrusion in which they all stood as the explorers gazed forward in disbelieving wonder and stunned awe.

Yami didn't need to turn his head to know that everyone's mouths were gaping and every set of eyes were riveted forward. Out of the corner of his eyes, Yami caught sight of Heba to his one side drop to his knees, overwhelmed, and Honda on is other side rub his eyes and look again, as though his eyes were playing tricks on him. Behind him he heard Bakura breath in an awed tone, "Son of a bitch."

Before them all, in all its' majestic glory, was an _enormous _waterfall. The mountain ranges on the edges of their peripheral vision were shrouded and hazy due to the copious amounts of mist from the roaring waterfall. The waterfall was a full circle that was in itself probably several hundred miles around with little outcroppings of rock that interspersed the circumference of the waterfall, much like small islands. The waterfall was caused due to the fact that the platform upon which it was all held together was a giant lake that's water fell off the edge of the circular rock platform that it had was its' base. And directly in the center of the giant lake was a far-off island, the biggest one of the lake, and upon that island were the unmistakably man-made structures of a city. Atlantis.

They had arrived at last.

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**SORRY! I just **_**had**_** to end it there! It was the perfect place to end it, even though it made the chapter very short! TT_TT**

**Once again, sorry for the cliff-hanger and for how long it took this short chapter to be made. I do have a good reason though! I was in Disney from last Wednesday till last night (Saturday)! It was mine, my sisters', and a friend of ours Graduation present! We had sooo much fun and it gave me a lot of ideas ^O^. Yay Star Wars weekend! Whoo!**

**Anyway, that's the reason for my less than prompt chapter and I'm sorry once again for the long delay.**

**Thanks to all my viewers and reviewers for being so patient. Please comment and review and I should have the next chapter for everyone within the next few days!**


	13. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I, FallTigerKisa, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Neither it's characters, themes, nor plots (no matter how much I would have loved to make it into a yaoi). Nor do I, FallTigerKisa, own Atlantis The Lost Empire.

I have since decided that all dialogue will be in Japanese but automatically translated in English, but when the conversations are in English the words will be in English in all "**Bold**", with none of the translated word in parenthesis of course. However, a word written in "**Bold"**with the English translation in (Parenthesis) is in a different language. ~_Italicized~_with little squiggly lines are mind-to-mind conversations. And to really mess with you all I might just put them both together in which they are mind-to-mind in a different language. I assume you all do not need an example. I'm also adding _Italicized_ as regular thoughts.

From now on, I have decided that 'the crew' will describe Mai and Keith and the surviving crew on their side; while 'the group' will be the characters you know and love.

WARNING: Every chapter from here on out has offensive language; thank you Yami Bakura. Also has some sexual references. I will warn you all when it is time for lemons.

I just got fed up with all my page space being monopolized by crap you all should know by now; if you're still reading my story you should already know all the other stuff from previous chapters anyway.

* * *

_**~~Explorers~~**_

Heba barely noticed when he fell to his knees beside his twin brother upon the grass of the mountain ledge that they were on. His mind blanked out as he stared in front of him in absolute wonder; he forgot where he was, why he was there, that he had been looking for his older brother, that he even had an older brother, his dreams, memories, new friends, enemies, even his own name under the overwhelming awe that had filled his psyche at the sight that laid before him.

A beautiful waterfall roared before them all, in all its' majestic glory. The mountain ranges on the edges of his peripheral vision were shrouded and hazy due to the copious amounts of mist from the roaring waterfall. The waterfall was a full circle that was in itself probably several hundred miles around with little outcroppings of rock that interspersed the circumference of the waterfall, much like small islands. The waterfall was caused due to the fact that the platform upon which it was all held together was a giant lake that's water fell off the edge of the circular rock platform that it had was its' base. And directly in the center of the giant lake was a far-off island, the biggest one of the lake, and upon that island were the unmistakably man-made structures of a city. Atlantis.

Triumph filled Heba at the sight as he imagined the reactions of Kanekura-san and the Board of Directors of the Domino City Museum at learning that Atlantis was real. He quickly felt ashamed at himself for having such petty thoughts; such petty emotions should not sully the purity of such an immense discovery.

Shaking his head to be rid of the emotions, Heba blinked at the sudden sight of a roughly calloused, pale hand in front of him. Following the hand up to its owner, he met his twins' eyes. They were filled with such indescribable, yet overwhelmed, emotions that Heba was a little shocked to see those crimson eyes looking a little shinier than they normally were. Behind him, Heba heard Rebecca murmur, "It's _beautiful_."

Heba watched as Yami blinked a little rapidly and realized that the shininess in his eyes were unshed, emotion-filled tears. Feeling his own eyes start to sting, Heba quickly took his brother's hand and allowed him to haul him to his feet. Heba staggered forward a little as he was clapped on the back by a strong hand. Glancing behind him, Heba saw Jou standing there with Shizuka tucked against his side as the blonde watched the waterfall in awe and told Heba, "I gotta hand it to ya Heba. You really came trough." Heba felt himself swell up with pleasure at the praise as he felt Yami lay his hand against his shoulder and squeeze. Glancing back to his brother, Heba felt the stinging in his eyes intensify under the pride that he saw in his twins' eyes. He looked around and saw that all of his friends were looking at him with the same look; even Bakura was smirking at him in congratulations.

A sudden _chirrup _of sound made everyone look forward again in time to see a white serpentine head pop up from over the ledge they were standing on. Everyone froze at the sight of the enormous head as deep-blue eyes stared at them in curiosity. The creature's head and neck was longer than the Drill and everyone froze in fear, not wanting to maybe become this new creatures' lunch.

Shizuka tilted her head to the side in puzzlement as she felt the sudden tension in her brother and utter silence that had fallen from everyone. Wondering at the strangely musical sound that was somewhat reminiscent of a bird, Shizuka inquired, "What was that, **Onii-chan** (Big brother)?"

Jou gasped at his sisters' sudden voice and pushed her body behind him as those sapphire-blue orbs swung in their direction, drawn by the sound and sudden movement. Jou shielded his sister's body with his own, utterly terrified for her, as blue eyes widened and the creature made a strangely pain-filled sound and reared it's head back. Everyone took the creature's distraction to move away from the ledge as they were galvanized into action at the sight of the threatening predator.

At the pain-filled sound of the grayish-silver head, a deep-throated roar of rage came from above them. A blur of metallic-silver fell between the explorers and the serpentine head. Icy, sapphire-blue eyes glared at them all in fury as a taloned claw swiped the air between them, obviously signaling the people to get the fuck away; to which they all hurriedly obliged. Everyone could feel themselves pale at the sight of a giant white dragon, even bigger than the one that had poked it's head up them in curiosity. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this one was the adult and that one had been a baby.

Which meant Keith was the idiot, because he suddenly shouted, "**Shoot the damn thing already!**" The group belatedly realized some of the crew were aiming their guns at the giant dragon, while Keith and some of the rest were aiming at the smaller serpentine head.

Yami instantly jumped in front of Keith and grabbed his gun. The explosion of the rifle went off and shot harmlessly into the air thanks to Yami's quick diverting of the muzzle. The older dragon roared at them in utter rage as it shielded the smaller dragon's head with it's body. Other rifles went off and _ping_ed off the silver scales, doing no damage whatsoever; they didn't even cause a scratch. Bakura, Malik, Honda, Jou, Otogi, and Yami wrestled the guns from the other crew members as they shouted at them to stop, that it wouldn't do anything but anger the dragons more. Heba and Rebecca used their bodies to shield Shizuka, deathly worried for their friends as they watched the going on's between their crew and friends and the dragons. Nobody seemed to notice that the larger of the two dragons had gone silent and was watching the turmoil with shrewd eyes.

Heba was watching the larger dragon in terror, afraid that it would now make a meal of them when he felt movement behind him. He and Rebecca turned their heads in time to see Shizuka slip away from them and head straight for the dragon. Heba shouted, what, he could not say, but it was enough to have everyone else turn as well.

Jou yelled for his sister as Rebecca and Heba desperately tried to grab Shizuka but she was already running for the dragons. The larger of the dragons narrowed his eyes at her before, to everyone's astonishment, he was butted out of the way from behind him as the smaller dragon moved forward. The smaller, more grayish-silver, dragon _bounced _forward, if a several-hundred pound dragon could be described to bounce, in great excitement as it moved towards the young woman.

Jou, terrified for his sister, ran towards her but was deftly intercepted by a taloned claw and held back. Looking up, sure he was about to get eaten but only afraid for his sister, Jou looked up into the icy blue eyes of the silver dragon.

Sapphire-blue eyes widened a moment before the older dragon suddenly gave a full-body _flinch_ and hissed as though in pain. Jou clutched his chest as he was released and felt the warmth in his chest suddenly dissipate into a feeling of utter longing to touch the other dragon. But before he had the chance to even contemplate that thought, Shizuka reached the other dragon.

Everyone watched in varying degrees of gaping amazement and stunned disbelief as Shizuka, shy and half-blind Shizuka, ran directly up to the smaller gray dragon and wrapped her arms around its muzzle. But what was even more amazing was the dragon's reaction. It was making a melodious crooning sound in it's throat as it bent it's long neck closer to the ground so that she had more access. Shizuka was laughing as she petted the scaled head in her wonderment, laughing in a way that her friends and brother hadn't heard her laugh in years; in utter and complete happiness, as though the weight of her burdens were no longer on her shoulders. It was such an achingly familiar, and yet nearly forgotten sound, that Jou, Honda, Otogi, Bakura, and Malik all felt a bit lighter in their hearts and Jou felt tears threaten to fill his eyes.

It was such an amazing moment that it seemed a sin for the sudden voice to call out, "**What is she, the fucking Dragon Whisperer?!**" Everyone turned to look at the idiot who had spoken, not surprised to find that it was Keith. He was unarmed thanks to Yami, but he was still trying to keep up his bravado. The only problem was that no one gave a shit. Even better, it had drawn the larger dragon's attention and it hissed at him in anger, causing the older man to back up in his fright.

The smaller dragon and Shizuka were still in their own little world but now that the two dragons weren't being threatening to them, it settled the explorers down enough that they weren't trying to hurt the dragons any more. Unsure what to do, everyone stayed in their places as they watched everything warily.

The larger dragon swept them all with it's icy gaze and moved closer to the smaller dragon. Jou, still wary about the larger dragon's intentions regarding his little sister, rushed past the startled dragon and wrapped himself protectively around his younger sister. He looked up at the larger dragon in defiance, as he daringly said, "**If yer gonna eat her, ya better eat me too, er else you'll find yerself roasting ova a fire, ya overgrown lizard!**" Everyone held their breath at this move and Honda tried to rush forward only to be held back by his lover.

The older dragon barely glanced at him before turning towards the smaller dragon and made a _chuffing _sound that seemed to convey a bit of annoyance. The smaller dragon startled and pulled itself gently out of Shizuka's arms, looking for all the world like it didn't want to suddenly fling her, and turned back to the ledge. It sent a small glance over it's shoulder at her before the larger dragon suddenly butted it off the ledge. The smaller dragon flew downward and the larger dragon stayed right where it was looking down the side of the ledge, though it seemed to send a few glances in Jou's direction.

Relieved that the dragon wasn't hurting them, though a little insulted by it's condescending disregard, Jou dragged his sister over to his friends, still keeping an eye on the larger dragon. It didn't seem the least bit concerned by them; and really, why should it be when bullets didn't even scratch its' impenetrable scales?

Keith, though it made him grit his teeth in frustrated disgust, deigned to ask Heba, "**Well, Mr. Mutou? What next?**"

The group looked at Keith in disbelief; as though there was any possible way for the scholar to know what the hell to do in this situation. Yami, the other 'Mr. Mutou', pretended that Keith had been addressing him and said, "**Well, if they're anything like the Duel Monsters that they're illustrated after, then those dragons are one of the most powerful creatures in this place.**" This caught everyone's attention aside from Rebecca who had been dreading the same thing and was looking at the creature by the ledge in wary awe.

Jou tried to wrack his brain on what the dragon was, but he had never seen one as a card before so he had no idea. His puzzlement must have shown on his face because Keith pettily sneered, "**Some Duelist you are.**"

Everyone narrowed their eyes at the man, they definitely wanted to hurt him, as Rebecca angrily retorted, "**Well, why don't **_**you **_**tell us what it is then, if you're so smart?**"

Leave it to the preteen to say such an immature thing, but it got a response, and proved to them all the more that Keith was an idiot. "**Why should I know what some creature is from a child's game if I don't even play the game?**"

The unspoken 'Then you shouldn't judge Jou, you idiot!', was expressed on all of their faces and Bakura murmured a disgusted, "Dumbass." Keith narrowed his eyes at him, not knowing what the white-haired man had said, but guessing it wasn't anything good. Opening his mouth to call him on it, he was interrupted by a dragonish snort. They turned to look at the sound and found that the dragon was looking at Keith with a strange look on its face; it looked almost like a sneer. But that was impossible unless the dragon could understand them. It looked away a second later and everyone reverted back to their original conversation.

"**So what are they?**" Shizuka asked in perfect English. Everyone startled a little at her question, she rarely talked unless it was to offer help, especially since it brought attention to herself. Jou blinked a little at the uncharacteristic action, but remembered her sudden connection to the other dragon; he also felt a great deal of curiosity though he refused to acknowledge that it stemmed from his own strange connection with the older dragon.

Yami replied easily back, "**They're Blue-Eyes White Dragons. The smaller one looked a little grayer than what's on the illustrations but the other one looks exactly the same as the card that I saw. I just never imagined that they would be so **_**large**_**.**" Rebecca and, surprisingly, Heba both nodded at his description.

Malik rolled his eyes and said, "**Blue-Eyes White Dragon? Really? How unimaginative can you get? I coulda told you what the hell they looked like.**"

A few in their group snorted in amusement at Malik's comment but stopped when Jou suddenly exclaimed, "_**The **_**Blue-Eyes White Dragons?! The strongest and rarest of all cards?! And their originals are right here in front of us?!**" Yami, Heba, and Rebecca all blinked at the sudden drop of his accent as Jou put his head in his palms and groaned.

Honda turned to Otogi and whispered something which caused the black-haired man to cover his mouth to prevent his sudden laughter. Honda grinned at him and Bakura, who was close enough to them to hear what was said, snorted in amusement and commented, "Nah, Jou's too gamey for them. They'd probably eat our 'esteemed leader' first." Malik and Yami grinned in amusement at the words as Jou looked up and gave his friends a dirty look.

Yami glanced at Shizuka and asked, "Why did you run up to the dragon like that?" Everyone else perked up at the question and leveled their gazes at the nearly-blind girl; especially Jou.

Shizuka tilted her head for a second in thought before she admitted, "I don't know. The warmth in my chest that I've been feeling since we got here disappeared and this connection that I had never felt before sprung up between us. And I just suddenly felt that I _had _to go over to it and just touch it and feel it." She seemed embarrassed for a moment before she continued, "That it was _mine_. Mine to hold, mine to cherish, mine to touch, mine to love, all mine and mine alone. That sounds ridiculous though, doesn't it?" She finished in an embarrassed hunching of the shoulders.

The group was staring at her in varying expressions of disbelief, awe, confusion, and worry. Jou was the only one who looked uneasy at this, though everyone shrugged it off as him just being worried at his sister being tied to a dragon; instead of the fact that he had been feeling the exact same thing with the older dragon. Heba, Malik, and Bakura had all piqued their ears at the part where the warmth in her chest disappeared and wondered at it's meaning, while Honda, Otogi, and Rebecca barely thought on it at all. It was Yami though that unconsciously caught their attention when he mumbled to himself in frustrated perplexity, "Well, there goes _my _theory."

Everyone was puzzled at his words except for Bakura and Malik, who looked at him in suspicion before Bakura asked, "What theory? The one you refused to tell us when we went to sleep last night?" Memories were jogged, except for Shizuka and Otogi who had been asleep at that point, and Heba and Jou narrowed their eyes at Yami in the same suspicion that Malik and Bakura were sporting.

Yami, not having known they had heard his mumbled comment, carefully blanked his face, cursing himself for letting that unintentionally slip, as he lied convincingly, "I have no idea what you're talking about." Now everyone's eyes were narrowed on him, they felt that he was keeping secrets from them and they didn't like it.

Keith, unable to understand them, gritted his teeth at being ignored and irritably asked, "**And I assume that those are bad?**"

Everyone had gotten so off track that it took a moment for them to remember what Keith was talking about. Yami jumped at the excuse to change the subject and clarified, "**What? The Blue-Eyes White Dragons?**"

Keith impatiently nodded his head, hating to have to repeat himself, as he said, "**Yes,**_** those!**_** Are they bad or not?**"

Rebecca was the one who replied, although it was rather coldly, "**Each Duel Monster has an attack and defense score. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon is the single most powerful card in the Dueling world that's not caused by a fusion or a special summons, because it has an attack score of 3000. It's so powerful that Pegasus only made four cards, so it's also one of the rarest cards in the world. So it's not Jou's fault that he's never seen one before.**" The last was said with a sidelong glance at Keith.

Keith narrowed his eyes at her but chose to ignore her last remark. Instead, he said, "**So it's very powerful in the Duel Monster world but how do we know it's powerful in it's real form? Here, the bugger might be the lowest form on the totem pole.**"

Bakura sneered and said, "Like I said before. Dumbass." Malik, Honda, Otogi, and Jou also shook their heads at the stupidity of the man.

Yami replied back, trying for stoic but probably coming out a little sarcastic, "**Because your bullets had absolutely no effect on it?**" Keith glanced over at the unmarred scaled of the dragon and got a crafty gleam in his eyes. Filing away the idea that had just come to his mind for later, Keith opened his mouth to ask another question but was cut off by a sudden trumpeting sound from the ledge.

The older dragon looked over the side of the ledge at the noise as the smaller dragon came into view. This time though, the grayish-silver dragon was wrapped in a golden netting that didn't appear to hamper its flight. To every one's astonishment, the dragon also had four hooded figures on its back.

Keith took one look at the ominous sight and snarled, "**Who in the hell are they? I thought we were the only one's on our way to Atlantis**."

Heba, too caught up in his utter wonder at having his hypothesis flipped on its axis to notice his older brother's sudden tension, replied back in an awed tone, "**They've got to be Atlanteans!**"

Mai, terrified into silence by the dragons up till now, fiercely stated back in a quiet tone, "**What?! That's impossible!**"

Everyone else was in a similar state of shock at his words as they all backed up as the hooded figures climbed down from their perches. A soft chanting began and everyone watched in amazement as the golden netting suddenly dissolved into sparks. Eyes widened and mouths dropped open at the sight; they obviously had no idea what to do about the strange sight that could only be caused by magic. Only Yami was left unaffected by the sight, and in fact he stepped forward, towards the four hooded figures and dragons that flanked them.

Heba seemed to snap out of his fixation and rushed after his brother, worried that the newcomers might think of him as a threat. Instead, he was faintly surprised as two of the hooded figures stepped forward, both of them wearing the same colored cloaks of royal purple. Due to the cloudiness of the day, the shadows formed by the hoods were enough to shroud their faces from their sight, yet Yami seemed unafraid as he watched the smaller of the two figures stepping forward. The remaining two hooded figures stayed in place near the dragons, the smaller of the two wearing a white hood with light blue embroidery, while the taller of the two had a deep reddish-purple hood. The two dragons stayed in their places though the smaller one kept sending what could only be called longing glances toward Shizuka.

It was Jou who called to Yami, "Careful there Yami. Don't spook 'em." Yami only sent him a glance and a reassuring nod. Heba, tightly clenching the Sheppard's Journal in his hand, stepped forward to stand side-by-side with his twin, unconsciously mirroring the two figures before him. The taller of the two suddenly stopped in their tracks as they seemed to notice Heba, and an abrupt hiss sounded from beneath the hood. The remaining three halted in their tracks and everyone else froze, afraid of what this new action could mean.

A few sounds of deep breathing could be heard before the sudden exhale of tension released from the figure, before they then moved closer again, their hooded regard never seeming to leave Heba. When they stood about five feet away from each other, by unspoken agreement they all stopped. Heba kept flicking his gaze between his brother and the taller of the hooded figures, uncertain what to do. Yami, his eyes never leaving the smallest of the hooded figures, quietly asked under his breath for his brother's ears only, "Aside from Atlantean, which language would they most likely be able to speak?"

Heba wasn't expecting such a question so it took him a few seconds longer than it would have for him to think up the answer. In an uncertain voice he rambled, just as quietly, "Well, based on the time period and supposed whereabouts of the city of Atlantis, if I had to hazard a guess, I would have to say Ancient Greek, Old Latin?" Yami sent him a baleful glance and Heba retorted, "Hey, don't look at me like that. It's not my fault. Ancient Greece began as a civilization at roughly the same time that Atlantis sunk and according to ancient texts, they were trading allies; it's only reasonable that they would know the language or at least a derivative of that language. Just pray that they've still been using it to some form over the last few millennia." Heba added that last part on with a great deal of skepticism.

Yami's eyes twitched under the pressure of him not allowing them to roll, as he said under his breath irritatedly, "Oh yeah, it's not like it hasn't been five thousand years."

Heba, having heard the muttered words said worriedly, "Maybe I should go first? I _am _the linguist."

Yami shook his head as he glanced at his little brother and said, "I have something I need to say to them first. I just wanted to make sure that I could say it with them understanding me first." Heba tilted his head in puzzlement as he wondered what it was that his brother could possibly have to say to them first.

Taking a deep breath, Yami tried to remember all he could about Latin and began, in halting Latin, "**Ecq-…**uh**, ecquid int-elle-gis me?** (Do you understand me?)" Yami sent his brother a glance only to get a thumbs up that he had said it correctly. Now all they had to figure out was whether or not the Atlanteans actually understood the language.

The two hoods turned towards each other and there seemed to be a conveyance of information though no words were spoken before they both turned back. In almost the exact same tone and pitch as Yami, the taller one said in an authorative baritone in fluent Latin, "**Ita sane intellegendum vobis,****aten'kheftu. Quaero, si te: Quare tu es? **(Yes, of course we understand you, **aten'kheftu**. My question for you though, is why it is you are here?)" Heba felt a deep shudder wrack his frame at the masculine voice, before he blushed a bit at the action. Why had he done that, especially since it sounded almost exactly like his older brother?

Yami and Heba both felt a swell of elation lift their hearts as they realized that they could actually communicate with them, although they were a little puzzled at one term, and everyone behind them let out a breath of relief at the reply; even though they couldn't speak it, that didn't mean they couldn't recognize that it was the same language.

Licking his lips as he thought on how to vocalize his answer in Latin, Yami once again spoke in halting words, "**Sum-us hic in-ven-ir-e ur-bem Atlantis.** **Lic-et mi-hi lo-qui a-liq-uid ad min-or-em? **(We're here to find the city of Atlantis. May I speak to the smaller one?)" Yami was trying his hardest to pronunciation everything correctly so he could get his point across. He was still having a bit of trouble trying to remember all the vocabulary and syntax that was used for Latin, but it had been quite a while since he last spoke it so it was understandable that he'd be a little rusty at it. Heba sent his brother a questioning look, what did he want to talk to the other one for? And why that one specifically? Yami ignored the question in his brother's eyes as he kept his gaze fixed on the taller of the two figures.

The taller of the two tilted his head a bit and seemed to regard Yami for a second before waving an arm to the smaller one. In the same deep baritone that Yami had, the masculine voice said authoratively, "**Denique. Sed eam celeriter. **(Fine. But make it quick.)"

Yami finally allowed his eyes to rest on the smaller of the two, knowing in some indefinable way that that figure was the one that had healed him; the stranger-who-wasn't-a-stranger. The smaller one fidgeted a bit under Yami's regard and Yami spoke, a little more fluidly but still a bit slowly, "**Scio te est. Qui curaret me. Tibi gratias ago pro subsidium quod mihi ante volui, **um…** dicere coepit interrogatio. **(I know that it's you. The one who healed me. I wanted to say thank you for helping me before we began this interrogation.)" He faltered a bit a one part but he was a bit relieved that he had gotten it all right. Heba stared at him in surprise at his words before he realized that he hadn't seen his brother limping since they were reunited. He looked down and saw the cut away pant leg and smooth skin where there should have been a stitched-up slash wound. Realization dawned on Heba as he connected the dots.

Everyone behind Yami and Heba wondered what it was that they were saying and were a little surprised that it was Yami doing the talking instead of Heba; Heba _was _the linguist after all, they were all thinking pretty much in tune with what Heba had been wondering. They watched from the sidelines and Shizuka giggled at Yami's halting way of speaking. The others were too wary of the hooded figures and dragons to find the same humor in the situation though the group did smile a bit.

All eyes were drawn forward as a pair of pale hands lifted out from the folds of the cloak of the smallest of the figures. They lifted to the hood and pulled it backwards. Everyone inhaled in shock and eyes widened at the sight; especially from Heba. Amethyst-colored eyes went wide at the sight of a person who looked _exactly like him!_ They shared the same cherubic face, the same jewel-amethyst eyes, the same aura of innocent optimism, the same tri-colored hair of ebony tipped in magenta with blonde bangs, they even had the same shy expression on his face that Heba had seen on himself in pictures. The only main differences that they could see was that this 'Heba' was cream-pale, instead of sun-bronzed like Heba was, and that they were wearing different clothes.

Heba could barely breathe at the sight of his doppelganger as thoughts and questions whirled through his head. He felt as though he was going to faint, but the only one thing that seemed to be the most concrete thing he could think of was, strangely enough, _Were we switched at birth? He looks more like Yami's twin than I do. Is that why Yami wanted to talk to him, because he knew? _A second later Heba shook his head to rid himself of the thought. Of course he was Yami's brother, always had been, always would be. Maybe this was just some weird magic that made the Atlanteans take their forms? That didn't make much sense to him as to why they would do that, but then he wondered if it would be to help them understand them? That if they took their forms, then they would take their knowledge too? It was a long shot, but it was all that Heba could think of in his confusion.

Only a moment had passed as everyone soaked in the sight of two Hebas, but only Yami seemed unaffected by the show. The only thing that changed in his demeanor were his eyes and the only one to notice was his twin. His eyes grew just a tad softer as they regarded the pale 'Heba'. The other 'Heba' seemed to notice and grew a bit shyer as he sent Yami embarrassed glances. Opening his mouth he said in Latin, in the same pitch and tone as Heba, "**Es exspectata. **(You're welcome.)" He then glanced over at the hooded figure beside him and hesitated a second. He then turned back to them and said in a firmer voice, "**Nulla semper illam, sed de fratre tuo, velit ipsum. **(We can continue this later, but my cousin wishes to speak about your presence here.)"

He then stepped a pace back to allow the hooded figure, his cousin, to step forward. Yami only had the chance to send the other 'Heba' a nod before he turned his attention to the other. The authorative voice from beneath the hood spoke again, "**Diceris hic quaerere Atlantis. Quomodo huc omnes? **(You say you are here to search for Atlantis. How did you all get here?)"

Yami hesitated as he tried to remember some of the words he wanted to say. "**Urbem vobis, subter est, et nos in Atlanticum oceanum iter per impetro hic sub aqua profunda fossa-…**" Yami frown in frustrated concentration as he tried to remember what the last word was, before it suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks, "**-mari. **(Your city is beneath the Atlantic Ocean and we traveled beneath the water to get here through a deep-ocean trench.)"

The other's head tilted to the side and the other 'Heba' seemed a bit confused as the other figure said under their breath, "**Oceanus Atlanticus? **(Atlantic Ocean?)" Yami didn't think it was a question, so much as an affirmation of what he had just said, before the 'cousin' suddenly straightened and said, "**Erras. Atlantis primum in Mediterraneo mari Atlantico non. **(You are mistaken. Atlantis was originally in the Mediterranean Ocean, not the Atlantic Ocean.)"

Yami was taken aback; they were definitely in the Atlantic Ocean right now, so how could it be that the Atlanteans originated in the Mediterranean? Not knowing how to answer to this, Yami turned to the only person who would invariably have answers.

Heba, his mind immediately spewing forth all kinds of hypotheses about this new information, noticed the look his brother was giving him and jumped in. Heba decided that it would probably be safe to just guess at this point and said in fluid Latin, "**Verisimile est urbs mari fluctus tuos induxisti underwater per quinque milia annos itineris. **(Most likely, the ocean currents brought your city here through the last five thousand years of underwater travel.)" His brain was already thinking on how to go about proving this, knowing he would need some things like ancients charts of water currents to prove some of his ideas of this, though his concentration was seriously underscored by this opportunity to speak to a real-life Atlantean. Heba then paused as he realized that if they had originated in the Mediterranean…

Eyes widening, Heba asked, "**Atlantis propinquior erat Graecia, Aegypto in terminis dignitatis? **(Was Atlantis closer to Greece or Egypt in terms of social standing?)"

The hooded figure and the Heba look-alike seemed to share a glance before the other curiously replied back, "**Technice, eramus propius Graeciam rem geographicam. Sed nos qui propius a interdum odio eu Aegypti ut haberet. Quid? **(Technically, we were closer to Greece geographically. But in terms of who we were closest to on a cultural level, then it would have to be Egypt. Why?)"

Heba decided to take a leap of faith and, heart pounding, he asked in Egyptian, "**Amam re en Kam? **(Do you understand the Egyptian language?)" Malik's head noticeably perked at his native language and his friends in the group noticed his reaction and looked at Heba in curiosity; they had heard Malik curse enough times in Egyptian to know what the language sounded like.

With absolutely no hesitation, the hooded figure replied back in fluent Egyptian, "**Hen, Netches-t Ami. **(Yes, Little One.)"

Malik jumped forward and raised both his hands in the air in triumph as he shrieked, "**THEY SPEAK MY LANGUAGE! FUCKIN' AWESOME!**" Everyone else in the group jumped at his sudden exclamation though Yami seemed to be holding back laughter at his cousin being called 'Little One'; Heba was too jubilant at his success at being proved correct yet again to be annoyed at the hooded figure or his twin for the teasing.

The Atlanteans had noticeably jumped a little at the sudden exclamation and the older dragon eyed Malik a little cautiously, but the Egyptian was too busy doing his happy dance with a dragged-in Bakura to notice. Bakura shoved his friend away from him with a disgusted, "Get off of me, you fuckin' mole."

A sudden yelp came from the white-cloaked figure as they bent nearly double over in pain while a hiss, sounding like a cross between pain and pleasure, issued forth from the last hooded figure. However, unlike the painfully gasping white-hooded figure, the figure in the reddish-purple cloak began striding forward. The taller of the two in the royal-purple cloaks, the Heba look-alike's 'cousin', growled warningly, "**Marik!**"

Everyone startled at the name, they thought that he was calling their friend for a split second, and even Malik paused at the sound of his close-name. The red-cloaked figure seemed to stalk Malik in a strangely menacing gait, and even Shizuka shivered at the sudden dropping in temperature as she sensed the sudden increase of evil in the air. A chuckle emerged from beneath the hood of the cloak, the sound one of barely-leashed madness, and everyone shivered at the evil sound. Jou pulled his sister behind him protectively while Honda and Otogi closed ranks around them. Rebecca hid behind Bakura while Bakura glared at the hooded figure creeping up to them, unafraid. Keith and Mai both backed up in fear, as did some of those of the crew that had accompanied them away from the wreckage sight.

The hooded figure next to them and the Heba look-alike all rushed towards their group, and a split second later, Yami and Heba rushed after them, worried for their friends from this new menace. The dragons easily glided forward and landed themselves on the rock wall that was behind the explorers, extending their long necks as a sort-of protective shield around Shizuka, Jou, Honda, and Otogi since they were all so close to each other. Two pairs of sapphire-blue, slitted eyes scrutinized the approaching figure with tension-filled muscles coiled tightly, clearly ready to rip the figure to pieces if they showed any sign that they were about to attack their wards.

The only ones that didn't appear to show any inclination to worry at the sight of the menacing figure approaching them was Bakura, who was glaring at the red-cloaked person in suspicion, the white-hooded figure who as still bent over in pain, and Malik. In fact, Malik appeared to be utterly entranced by the approaching figure, his lavender eyes never straying from that menacing form as it leisurely swaggered towards him. A moment later, the figure, leaking evilness like Yami radiated authority, stopped directly in front of Malik and pulled back their hood.

Everyone froze at the evilly grinning face of the mad-man as Malik gasped. Broad-shoulders easily caught the fallen hood as a golden-bronzed face, that could have easily mistaken for a demented Malik, grinned at them all insanely. Only the sandy-blonde hair was what differentiated the two as the stranger's speared upwards in every which direction. Kohl encircled purple eyes, gleaming madness, locked on to stunned lavender as the other man licked his lips with a slightly-larger-than-normal tongue and grinned down evilly at Malik. Malik felt his insides melt and a tightness clamp into his gut at the sight, a mixture of terror and high-octane arousal. Because Malik knew, with just that one look into his eyes, that this was a man who would fuck you into the ground while you were bleeding and in pain. And Malik almost orgasmed at the thought of it.

Those deep-purple eyes became hooded in cruelty-laced sensuality as the other, Marik, according to the 'cousin', bent closer to the frozen Malik and whispered something in his ear in Egyptian, softly enough that no one else heard him. Malik gave a loud gasp as he tensed and his friends saw him grimace and close his eyes as though in pain; completely unaware that Malik had just had to fight off the biggest climax of his life at the images that just came to him from the other man's kinky words.

"_**Marik.**_" The 'cousin' did not raise his voice, though he did stress the name through what sounded like gritted teeth. The Malik look-alike, Marik, glanced over at him and snorted in annoyance before he walked a few paces away, still staring cruelly at the frozen Malik.

Jou and Honda looked like they wanted to pummel Marik for 'scaring' their friend but were held back, unintentionally, by the dragons; what had originally been protective was now also restraining. Rebecca, Otogi, Heba, and the Heba look-alike were staring at Malik in worry. Shizuka was petting the scaled neck of the grayish-silver dragon in front of her and seemed unaware of what was going on. Keith and Mai didn't seem like they could care less about what had happened between the two and were only relieved that the psychopath had averted his attention anywhere near them.

Only Bakura and Yami had recognized the look on Malik's face for what it was, Bakura knew his friend too well and Yami had suspicions from that same theory that he had been having for quite a while. Malik was panting as he raised hooded eyelids to stare after the other with sexually-glazed eyes. Bakura rolled his eyes at having been proved correct but stayed quiet; he might be vulgar, but he wouldn't embarrass his friend like that, especially not where the Homophobic Prick and his Slutty Sidekick could hear.

Suddenly, Malik narrowed his eyes at the smirking madman in calculated mischief before he sauntered over to him and punched him directly in the face. Everyone froze in disbelief at the sight as the madman's head kicked back a bit at the force of the punch; Malik had clearly not held back. His friends froze in terror for their friend, sure that he was about to be killed, only to be utterly shocked when Malik began laughing!

The other one, Marik, straightened a moment later and looked over at Malik through narrowed eyes. Malik's lavender eyes glinted mischief as he purred, "**Aa** **er asu un tet. **(Just returning the favor.)"

Marik looked as though he was contemplating getting angry when the figure in the royal purple cloak, the one who seemed to be calling all the shots, began chuckling. The Heba look-alike looked at his cousin in puzzlement while everyone else stared at the hooded figure in disbelief. In a voice choked with laughter, the hooded figure snickered, "**Ahi hen, ynk er au bakhbakh-f. **(Oh yes, I definitely like him.)" The figure then pulled back his own hood to show a smirking face, a complete carbon-copy of Yami's, as he turned his gaze to the older dragon. As everyone stared at the Yami doppelganger in shock, the bronzed version of Yami looked up at the older dragon and said, "**Met-t, Seto?** (Right, Seto?)"

Everyone turned to look at the dragon that the Yami look-alike had addressed; no one had any idea what to do about the situation of the Atlanteans looking so much like their party members. They all just about fainted in shock though when the dragon suddenly snorted before a masculine voice penetrated their minds to retort in annoyance, _~**Nes er ua rek ami aat-t-f. Ynk nes kheper-y. **__(It's about time someone hit him. I'm just sorry it wasn't me.)~_ Jou felt shivers trace down his spine at the sound and he found himself blushing for no apparent reason which. Every one of the explorers, Yami included, gaped at the dragon, they could _not _have just heard the thing speak _in their minds! _But their suspicions were confirmed as they looked at each other to confirm that everyone else was sporting the exact same expressions of disbelief and apprehension.

The smaller dragon turned it's head to bump against the other dragon reproachfully, as a younger male voice came through their minds again, _**Marik yw nn ntt djw, smsw sn.**__ (Marik's not that bad, older brother.)~ _Nobody could believe that the _dragons _were speaking _in their minds! _It felt almost like a dream and Honda and Rebecca pinched themselves to see if they were dreaming; no dice, they were very much awake. The only one's who seemed unaffected by the 'talking' dragons were Bakura, Malik, and Heba.

Bakura was too embittered about the world to see much surprise in whatever it had to dish out to be affected by dragons, let alone 'talking' dragons. Heba was too busy staring at his twin's doppelganger in shock, he felt the strange need to touch the other to make sure that he was real, as he felt the warmth in his chest dissipate to be replaced by a yearning sensation. And Malik, well, Malik was being suddenly choked as his look-alike grabbed him by the throat with one large hand and lifted him in the air to dangle in his grip.

Everyone's attention was suddenly riveted to the two blondes as Jou, Bakura, and Honda tried to jump forward, but they were interrupted by a truly amused laugh coming from Marik. This one didn't seem evil or menacing at all; in fact, Marik was damn near beaming at Malik as he held the grinning Egyptian about two feet above the ground. Marik's eyes crinkled in amusement as he purred, "**Ynk ab djbah tw hsy n nf nhy ky sp, hm. **(I'll pay you back for that hit later, slave.)" He then dropped Malik unceremoniously to the ground and Malik coughed a bit and rubbed his neck to get back some of the circulation, grinning up at the psychopath in mischief all the way.

Smiling cheekily, Malik replied back, "**Tw ab yw n khefa-y hut, nb. **(You'll have to catch me first, master.)" Marik threw his head back and howled with laughter, looking for all the world like he was enjoying himself. Everyone else was just staring at Malik as though he was insane; which wasn't much different than how they normally looked at him, come to think of it.

Everyone was in a state of shock at all the revelations, but it was Shizuka's gentle voice that drew them out of their thoughts, "So you can speak in our heads?" Everyone turned to watch her as she pet the grayish dragon on its' scaled neck and smiled tranquilly.

Jou hugged her tighter to him as he said, "Shizuka, I don't think that it can underst-"

He was cut off as the younger voice came through their minds again, _~Oh yes, of course I can. __**Nii-sama **__(Older Brother) and I can send our thoughts to anyone through the standard telepathic wave that all sentient beings share. It's only you humans who have lost the ability to do so.~ _Jaws dropped, not so much at the dragon's words, as the fact that he had spoken in fluent Japanese, and every set of eyes blinked at the younger dragon as it seemed to almost bounce in his exuberance; and it was most definitely a 'he', since the younger 'voice' in their minds was most definitely male, closer to that of a teenage boy than an that of an adult if his older brother's 'voice' was anything to go by.

Shizuka however seemed to find nothing strange at all about the fact that she was conversing with several-hundred pound dragon through his mind. Honda and Otogi had backed up, away from the dragons, when they began talking but Jou stayed attached to his sister. He just about jumped six feet in the air though when the older dragon suddenly snorted.

The icy 'voice', Seto if the Yami look-alike was to be believed, filled their minds as the dragon bumped his little brother and said, _~Mokuba, enough. Atemu still has to question them before we get friendly with them. We wouldn't want to leave any lasting impressions if we need to erase their memories later.~_ Everyone who understood Japanese startled a bit at the part about erasing their memories and they all backed up from the Atlanteans in wary apprehension.

Mokuba blinked up at his older brother, startled, as he replied back, _~But Nii-sama-~ _He was cut off by a cold look that his older brother shot him and subsided into uneasy silence, unconsciously coiling himself tighter around Shizuka.

Heba was puzzled and said uncertainly, "Atemu? Who's Atemu? And you can speak Japanese?" Everyone turned to him and the three unhooded Atlanteans blinked at the small man. The last of the hooded Atlanteans had recovered from whatever fit had occurred to them and had snuck up to join them without anyone noticing; the white hooded figure was standing unobtrusively to the side, surreptitiously standing behind the Yami look-alike.

The bronzed version of Yami raised his eyebrow in a very familiar expression of amusement as he replied back, "I am Atemu, and yes, we can understand Japanese." Heba stared at his twin's doppelganger in awe as a reddish tinge flushed over his face; he felt the sudden urge to fan himself under the regard of those ruby-red eyes. Heba chastised himself in his head, a little unnerved by the sudden over-powering attraction he felt for someone who looked _exactly _like his brother, his twin no less; there should be rules set in his psyche against things like that right? Apparently not, since all his body wanted to do was rub itself against all that golden-tanned skin. Heba felt himself heat up, in more ways than one, at the sudden image and he was momentarily tongue-tied at the thought; goodness gracious, he hadn't even known he could see a guy in that kind of way!

Yami, bemused by his twin's barely noticeable blush, jumped in for his silent brother and asked, "Why didn't you just say you could?"

Atemu merely raised his other brow as he regarded Yami, sending small glances in Heba's direction, and replied back with a question of his own, "Why didn't you just ask us earlier?"

Yami opened his mouth to given the other a sharp-tongued answer, before he abruptly clamped his jaw shut and narrowed his eyes at his look-alike. A knowing smirk graced his features as he recognized the ploy; it was one he had used himself against many people, though he had never been at the receiving end of such a tactic. Yami opened his mouth, about to fight fire with fire, when he was interrupted by a caustic, "**What in the hell are they saying?**"

Those that understood Japanese glanced over at Keith and Mai, who had been so far left out of the loop that Keith was sporting a very noticeably flushed face, rife with anger. Gazes cooled perceptibly as all the sets of eyes turned to Keith. Yami told him in a distinctly cold voice, "**They're saying that they can understand Japanese.**"

Keith, impatient with the whole lot of them, gritted out, "**Well, why don't you ask them if they can understand English so that I can tell them that we're going to Atlantis.**"

Honda, Otogi, Bakura, and Malik glared at the man for his disrespect and Yami almost lost his composure and just punched the asshole. Almost. But he was an adult and he knew that Keith was his and his friends' ticket home; he was willing to be the better man and suck it up. Turning back to his Atlantean look-alike, he was about to tell Atemu what had been said, with much of it reworded so it didn't come out so rude, but he was interrupted as Atemu glared icily at Keith and said in perfect English, "**I understand English quite well. I was only unaware of which language it was that all of you spoke in order to communicate with you all properly.**" He didn't come out and say that Keith was an asshole for trying to tell them what to do in regards to their own homeland, but his tone made it abundantly clear of what he thought of Keith; somewhere between vomit and some form of shit. That is to say, not very much. The group almost grinned at the diplomatic answer that hinted at so much more, but they refrained themselves.

Keith, being the dense dumbass that he was, missed the nuance of tone completely and smiled slimily as he said ingratiatingly, "**Well then, we are explorers from the surface world and we come in peace.**"

Yami and Atemu narrowed their eyes in mirrored expressions at the man as Malik, Marik, Bakura, Honda, Otogi, and Jou all rolled their eyes at the obvious ploy. Seto gave a dragonish snort of what sounded suspiciously like contempt and Heba and his look-alike shook their tri-colored heads in twin movements of disparagement. The more diplomatic motions were beyond Rebecca and Shizuka, and Mokuba was too engrossed in being caressed by Shizuka to really care about the show of politics.

Atemu turned to Yami and asked him, completely ignoring Keith, "**For what purpose are you here, aten'kheftu?**"

There was that unfamiliar term again; the wording sounded almost Egyptian in quality, but if it was, it was a different dialect than what he had learned as a child. Even Malik and Heba seemed confused at the word before they shrugged at him to show their incomprehension. Deciding to ask about it later, Yami answered back truthfully, "**I'm here merely to keep my little brother out of trouble and fulfill my Grandfather's dream of finding Atlantis. And I can tell you that my twins' intentions are to discover the ways of your culture; though, we honestly weren't expecting anyone to be down here. The rest of our expedition are being paid to come so that everything runs smoothly on this expedition.**"

Ruby-red eyes bore into crimson-red and read the honesty in the other's gaze, the integrity. Atemu then glanced over at Heba and raised a brow as he whispered under his breath, "**Twin brother?**" No one had heard him speak, with the possible exception of the still hiding white-hooded Atlantean behind him, and Atemu smirked a bit in bemusement. Meeting each one of the explorers eyes he ascertained their intentions regarding the question he had just asked Yami. Seeing that Yami was mostly correct, some of them definitely had ulterior motives but he memorized those to be followed later, Atemu made his decision.

Stepping back, he swept a tanned hand behind him and said to them, "**Then welcome, to the City of Atlantis.**" Atemu then turned to Heba and Yami and said, "Come, you must come to the palace now."

Heba felt his eyes widen in excitement as he mouthed at Yami, 'Palace?'. Yami just pushed him forward a bit, his amusement clearly noticeable to those that knew him well. Yami could practically see all the thoughts, questions, and hypotheses going through his little twin's mind, and the feelings of excitement and wonder were clearly seen through his expressive amethyst eyes.

Keith was busy giving orders to the rest of the crew and didn't notice that Atemu had spoken Japanese, so it was only those in the group that understood what Atemu had said and they were all pretty excited. The majority of them had never been to a palace, and the idea of going to one that hadn't been visited by outsiders in nearly five thousand years set many hearts pounding in excitement; Malik, especially, was almost sent into heart palpitations.

Their attention was drawn to the dragons as the older one, Seto, glided off towards the edge of the cliff; his tail 'accidentally' tripping Marik up as he brushed past. The dragon kept on going as Marik fell flat on his ass only to flip him off and cursed him out in Egyptian; to which the dragon easily ignored. Malik laughed at their antics and Rebecca looked as though she was trying to hold in her own laughter as she stood next to a preoccupied Heba; he was hastily flipping through the Journal in the search of something and didn't seem to notice that the preteen had crept up beside him and grabbed his shirt sleeve as she nearly doubled over trying to hold in her amusement. Ruby-red eyes narrowed at the sight of that hand on the tri-colored haired man and an low growl percolated through Atemu's clenched teeth; causing the white-hooded Atlantean hiding behind him to back away from him in trepidation, since the hidden Atlantean was the only one to have heard Atemu's unconscious reaction. A moment later, Atemu shook his head to dislodge the feeling of jealous possession from his mind, it wasn't very kingly of him especially since the reaction was to a child, and he contented himself with the fact that his **aten'kheftu's** younger twin seemed completely unaware of the girl child's touch.

Unbeknownst to anyone, the white-hooded figure had backed away from Atemu without looking where they were going and backed up right into Bakura's back. A startled yip emerged from under the white hood and Bakura turned to face the culprit who had bumped into him with a scowl. Scowl still in place, Bakura growled in his customary caustic manner, "What's up with you?" When the other only flinched away, Bakura curled his lip into a sneer and asked, "And what's up with the hood? All your other friends aren't afraid to show us their faces. Or are you such a goody-goody that you think your too good enough to show us your _pretty _face?" The last was heavily sneered and the smaller of the two just cowered under the disdainful regard of the russet-eyed man.

Honda and Jou both glared at their friend as they chorused reprovingly, "Bakura!" Heba and Shizuka were too focused on their fixations to notice, Malik and Marik didn't seem fazed at all, Yami and Atemu both narrowed their eyes at the white-haired man's rudeness, and Seto and Mokuba watched on silently, if a bit harshly at Bakura.

It was the Heba look-alike though that called out worriedly, "Ryou?" Yami felt liquid heat run through his body as he heard the other's voice, and he felt an inappropriate thrill. Inappropriate due to the cause of the voices' distress, not at the fact that the voice, much like everything else about the person it belonged to, was almost exactly like his twin brother's; he had resigned himself to the fact that he was soul-bound to a man that was pretty much his twins' twin (if that made any sense?) and he felt no discomfort over the fact, since he knew that they were both two very different people.

The white hood turned in the speaker's direction; which turned out to be a bad idea, because Bakura took that bit of distraction and reached out his hand to roughly fling the hood away. But his snarl instantly fell away into shock as the male underneath was revealed. Liquid-chocolate doe-eyes jerked back to meet with russet-colored eyes in wide-eyed panic. Those soft-brown eyes seemed exceptionally large in that porcelain-white face that could have passed for a softer, younger, Bakura. He, much like all the other Atlanteans appeared to have a close resemblance to someone in their party and Bakura was definitely that resemblance; though a softer resemblance none-the-less, much like Malik was to Marik. Still, no one could deny the similarities between them, right down to long the snow-white hair that was Bakura's trade-mark; though, 'Ryou's' seemed to be much softer while Bakura's was spiked a little more menacingly.

The panic-stricken young man stared up at Bakura like a frightened rabbit for a moment before he turned away from the other albino and fled in a whirl of white; leaving Bakura in a comical position of speechless-face and one hand outstretched in the direction of the fleeing Ryou. The young man fled towards the ledge and dragon as he hid his body behind the towering Seto, with only his head peeping around the corner of Seto's hind leg; as though Bakura was more terrifying than a thirty-foot tall dragon with razor-sharp teeth and claws. Above him, Seto just rolled his icy-blue eyes at the timid Atlanteans' reaction and turned his head back towards the horizon; searching for signs of danger while sending small glances from time-to-time at his younger brother and the blonde human attached to his brother's new fixation.

Honda and Otogi watched the shy albino run away with a bit of worry and sent reproving glares at the still-speechless Bakura. Rebecca just stared after the hiding man in sympathetic compassion, while Heba did the same. Mokuba just sighed, shook his head, and burrowed his muzzle deeper into Shizuka's arms, obviously guiding her hands towards the more sensitive spots on his head. Marik completely ignored them all in his new fascination with watching the some-what wrecked vehicles roll up from the tunnel made by the Drill. Malik and Jou just laughed at their friend's face as Malik teased, "Jeez Bakura, if you didn't want to scare him so badly then you should've just kept your mouth shut!" Yami was too busy noticing the reactions of Atemu and his little stranger-who-wasn't-a-stranger to find much amusement in the situation. Both Atemu and the Heba look-alike were watching after the 'Bakura' Atlantean, Ryou, in worry and the two shared a glance before the Heba look-alike jogged over to his friend.

Unable to see what was going on behind Seto's thickly-muscled hind leg, Yami turned his attention towards Atemu, hoping to find out what that had all been about. Only to find that his Atlantean counter-part had turned away and was watching the oncoming trucks in contemplative alertness. Yami, figuring that Atemu had never seen a vehicle before, indicated one of the trucks and enlightened, "They're called trucks. We use them to-"

He was cut off as Atemu interrupted him with a shake of his head and a staid, "I know what they are and what they're for. I'm just wondering how in all the gods name's you were able to get them all down here." Atemu looked up from his bemused perusal of the trucks to look at Yami, his pale **aten'kheftu** had his mouth open as though he was about to ask a question or perhaps explain how they managed to get down here, and hurriedly interrupted him again. "Questions and answers can wait, Yami was it? We have all wasted enough time here and our, my cousins, friends, and I, absences were sure to have been noticed by now. So unless you all wish to be killed in very horrible ways by those that would attack you first and ask questions later under the belief that you all kidnapped us, then I would suggest that we all get moving so that we can have a chance to explain the situation to them before anything happens to you all."

Everyone felt vaguely uneasy about that and Mokuba winced as he 'said', _~Oh yeah, we _did _kind of leave without telling anyone didn't we? You don't think __**Mwt **__(Mother) and __**Yt **__(Father) are upset about me and Seto suddenly leaving, do you Atemu?~ _

Atemu sighed and replied back, "I wouldn't worry about them Mokuba. Knowing Seth, he would converse with Isis first and then he would go and calm Kisara when he learned what we were up to. I'm more worried about how Mahado, Shadi, and Karim are holding up."

Seto snorted aloud and replied back sarcastically, _~That is to say, not very well. Shadi and Karim are at least more likely to listen to Isis and Siamun so they'll calm down a bit, but Mahado will just nit-pick and worry-hen everything so long as it's about you two. He's been cooped up in his little lab, smelling all those concoctions and herbs for so long, with only Mana for company, that he's become a head-case.~_

Atemu wished he could disrepute that statement, but it was obvious by the look on his face that he could not. So it only made him feel a bit of amusement when Marik said matter-of-factly, "He needs to get laid." Seto didn't reply but Atemu felt his lips twitch as he tried to hide his amusement; Mokuba chuckled in dragonish huffs and two sets of quiet laughter issued from behind Seto's leg.

No one else knew who these people were, so they couldn't find the same amount of humor in the situation; though the more juvenile members (*cough* Jou, Malik, Honda, Otogi *cough*) sported a few grins at the universally funny comment. Rebecca screwed her face up at the crude comment while Yami and Heba shook their heads at the insane Atlantean.

Jou, having noticed that the new source of his embarrassing fixation, AKA Seto the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, wasn't being a very good sport, joked up at the metallic-silver dragon, "Oi! 'ow come yer not laughin'? Lighten up a little, scale-butt!" Only Atemu and Heba seemed to notice the previously-missing accent's reappearance. Everyone else laughed with Jou and his ever-cheerful personality; although Mokuba was mostly laughing at the nickname that he had never heard used before for his overly-strict brother.

Seto narrowed his eyes at the blonde as he replied back disdainfully, _~People who can't even speak properly shouldn't be allowed to speak at all.~_

Jou's friends snickered at the good come-back but Jou gasped in affront as he heatedly replied back, "Wha' in da hell, do ya mean 'dose who can't speak properly', you asshole?! I should punch ya in da nose, ya over-grown piece' a luggage!" Marik howled at the analogy as his mind immediately supplied him with the image of bluish-silver suitcases while Jou shook his fist at the older dragon in incensed resentment.

Seto turned his full attention to the offended blonde and lifted his lip in a dragonish sneer as he scornfully 'said', _~The fact that you continued to prove my point, just proves that you're an idiot. And idiots should be treated with the same regard as one would with an animal.~_

Jou's face went red with anger at the utter _assholishness _that the dragon was sporting and felt angry at himself for thinking that he had some sort of connection with the thing. Pointing his index finger rudely at the dragon that could easily kill him with minimal effort, Jou roared up at him, honey-brown eyes blazing, "You need ta get yer head outta yer ass!"

Marik had doubled over laughing at the colorful imagery and snorted to himself, "Oh, I definitely like him."

Sapphire-blue eyes sneered icily at honey-brown, and Seto replied, _~And you need to learn who you betters are, mutt.~_

Everyone could nearly see sparks fly out of Jou's eyes as he parroted back, too pissed off to come up with anything new, "_Mutt?!_"

Seto snorted as he 'said' disdainfully, _~Yes mutt. A rangy dog that isn't even given a proper title because it is not even a purebred animal. A dirty mixture of a breed. A mutt. You fit the definition perfectly.~ _And with that parting comment, Seto glanced one last time into the fury-induced-speechless face of a red-faced Jou and jumped off the ledge to glide in the direction of the bridge off in the distance.

Jou almost screamed his fury at the damn dragon if not for the fact that he didn't want to scare his sister. He could feel the monster in him that made him lash out at friends and foe alike rising to the surface, and that, more than anything, is what allowed him to bring himself to a simmer; he promised himself that as soon as he was alone to with the dragon, he was going to let loose his terrible vengeance and rip the dragon a new one, forgetting in his blind rage that Seto could rip Jou's little body to shreds with a single swipe of his sword-length talons.

Atemu was staring after the dragon in puzzlement, normally when Seto didn't like anyone then he would just ignore them, he had never seen Seto so foully insult someone like that unless he hated them with a passion. But as far as Atemu was concerned, the blonde dirty-blonde man hadn't done anything to warrant Seto's hatred, so it was with great confusion that Atemu sent to Seto, _~What are you so mad about, Seto?~_

Now that everyone was attuned to the telepathic wave, they all heard the voice in their heads, just as they all heard the snarling reply of the older of the two dragons, _~I am not _angry._ I am _furious_. Get it right, Atemu, especially since it is all your fault.~_

Jou scowled at the silvery speck in the distance as they all heard the reply in their minds; everyone was confused. Atemu, insulted, retorted back, _~How in the all the names of the Gods is your anger _my _fault?~_

A sudden dragonish shriek sounded in the distance as a ball of blue lightning arced off in a venting of anger as Seto angrily replied, _~YOU _JINXED _ME!~_

Mokuba gaped after his older brother and Atemu's eyes widened in sudden comprehension as he flicked his gaze between the pissed off speck of dragon in the distance and Jou. Heba and Ryou's eyes widened before they suddenly burst into a pair of quickly choked off giggles.

Marik was the worst though. He full out _howled_ with laughter as tears poured down his face under the force of his guffaws. He took several gasping breaths interspersed by maniacal sniggering as he finally looked into the eyes of Atemu. The look almost made Atemu flinch; he had never seen Marik's eyes so full of _worship_. It was downright _creepy_. Atemu was perhaps one of the few people that Marik actually respected and listened to, but he had never given so much a single fuck that Atemu was royalty, which made for quite a few political problems in Atemu's career; which meant that Marik had _never_, _ever_, shown the least amount of deference to the monarch. So to suddenly have the same look in his eyes that nearly every single citizen in his kingdom regarded him with, that look of awe-induced worship, was fucking _unnatural_. Marik bent down at the waist with his hands before him in fake-worship as he bowed in Atemu's direction, he said laughingly, "I _worship _you, my liege. Anyone who has the power to do that to the scale-butt," he glanced up to send Jou a wink before he continued, "has my full support." He finished with a maniacal grin up at Atemu who was calling upon all his years of experience to keep his face smoothly stoic. Everyone was sending unsure glances between the two and Jou couldn't help but wonder what in the hell they were talking about; as though Atemu had jinxed Jou onto Seto?

Everyone startled as a voice called out, "**Time to go!**" Keith sat in the back of one of the trucks as he honked the horn at them all rudely. "**Get a move on!**"

Everyone glared at him drolly at the immature act as Yami turned to Atemu and said, "You and your cousin can sit with my brother and I if you need a ride." Jou was already stomping off towards his Hummer, Honda, Otogi, and Shizuka in tow as the smaller dragon trumpeted after her before flying off to join his own older brother. Rebecca had already joined Malik and Bakura at the Drill. Judging by their faces, Malik and Marik were either sharing information on torture implements or sexual services, it was hard to tell which; maybe both? Bakura was gazing at the timid Ryou in a strange mixture of bitter anger and anxious longing as the gentle man seemed to be arguing with the Heba look-alike quietly; the two were still by the ledge even though Seto had flown off.

Yami had glanced in the direction of the Heba look-alike when he offered this and Atemu couldn't stop the small smirk from forming on his face as he noticed. He himself had glanced at the young tanned scholar that was a few paces away when his **aten'kheftu **gave the offer; but he had also caught the sheen of tears that were trailing down Ryou's face and had guessed that he and Yugi would need to talk him down from his panic. Regretfully shaking his head, Atemu apologized, "I am sorry but we cannot. My cousin and I have things we need to discuss. And besides, it not look as though we were taken hostage if we walk in front of the procession like we are leading it." Yami nodded at this, though he suspected as to why the other man had declined, since he had too had seen the tear-tracks over porcelain skin and had seen his doppelganger's notice of them as well.

Respect for Atemu welled within Yami as he watched the tanned version of himself bow out of the situation gracefully, while still allowing his friend to keep his dignity. Inclining his head towards the ruby-eyed man, Yami smiled genuinely at the man as Atemu mirrored his motion with a regal nod of the head. Both turned, in unconscious synchronization, to assist their closest family members; Atemu went to go assist Yugi calming Ryou, and Yami walked over to steer the still-reading Heba over to their original truck.

Rebecca crawled into the backseat of the Drill as Bakura and Malik climbed into the front seats, after Malik pinched Bakura a bit to make him get a move on. Marik began strolling along the slope to where he knew there would be a path that would lead them to the bridge. Atemu and Yugi managed to calm Ryou down enough to where they could walk and lead the explorers while still conversing, and began walking in the same direction as Marik. Heba, still reading the Journal as he began enthusing to an amused Yami about his hypotheses and connections, blindly climbed into the passenger seat of the open-aired truck that they had been travelling in since the start of the adventure, while Yami climbed into the driver's side and began slowly driving after the Atlanteans, his brother's voice like radio-chatter in his ear the whole time. Soon, the gradual procession began on their way, moving along slowly so as to keep up with their Atlantean guides.

* * *

_**~~Keith and Mai~~**_

In the second car down the procession line, behind the truck that currently held an amused Yami and an overly excited Heba, were the two commanding officers of the expedition. Mai was staring after the truck in front of them with great amusement. Since the vehicle had no windows, they could hear the excited chatter of Heba in the truck up ahead. Beside her, Keith was driving slowly as he thought to himself.

Remarking on her favorite cutie, Mai said teasingly, "**Someone's having a good time.**"

Keith snapped out of his thoughts and finally heard the chatter up ahead and sneered, "**Like a kid, at Christmas.**"

Mai's face lost her teasing smile as she turned to Keith and concernedly said, "**Commander, there weren't supposed to be people down here. This changes everything.**"

A malicious grin stretched across Keith's face as he corrected in anticipation, "**This changes nothing.**"

* * *

**Hey everyone! I would have finished this chapter sooner but my internet is not working on my computer, and it went down just as I was getting to the parts where I needed to do translating (TTOTT NOOOO! NOT THE TRANSLATING!) **

**Speaking of which, the English to Egyptian translations were NOT completely accurate, so do not complain to me about it please; I did the best I could do, especially since it was ANCIENT Egyptian not modern-day Arabic, so cut me some slack here. I got the basic gist of the translation though some of the modern-day terminology did not have a proper counterpart, so I did the beast I could TT-TT.**

**Also, I feel like I was doing a lot of pronouns and round-about ways of describing who it was that was talking, and I apologize for that as well. I was trying to keep in mind that this was supposed to be in the Group's points-of-view so they could only describe as much as they knew. I think I got lazy with this later on in the chapter but I think at those parts it was in Atemu's POV and I just didn't bother doing the back-and-forth line right in the middle of a passage; it was too much work as I discovered last chapter. **

**I wanted to apologize yet again for the long frikin' wait and the fact that I feel like we got absolutely no where. But, I mean, I kind of had to have the chapter be this way, because then it gave all the characters their times to have their little reactions to everything and you just can't to that while you're adding to the plot as well, you just can't! So, I gave up a whole chapter of moving along into Atlantis for a whole chapter with rich character interactions; I had fun writing this one, though the translating was a bit of a pain in the ass (Never doing that again unless it's for one-time words and terms, like pet-names).**

**I feel like I didn't have enough character interactions in regards to the other characters (like Honda, Otogi, Rebecca, and not enough Heba and Bakura and Ryou to my liking)and I had to keep reminding myself to add in some of the other characters, like Jou (SORRY JOU!). But I had fun with Seto and Jou, although I'm a little surprised at how much I included Mokuba and Shizuka into this one. I got to hint at other characters that you'll meet, Yay! I especially love Mahado and Mana, so I can't wait for them ^-^. **

**I want to personally thank Animsaki for addressing a question that I had been agonizing over; if not for our conversation then I wouldn't have come up with using Malik and Marik like I did for that scene ^W^. It wasn't quite what you had in mind, though I liked the idea; it just wouldn't have worked for what I had planned for later, SORRY! And thanks again!**

**I wish to thank all my viewers and reviewers for staying with me through this and waiting patiently for each chapter. Please review, and ask me questions! I also want to hear about any suggestions you wish to make about my story, I do get stuck sometimes and if I like your idea then I'll put it in or tweak it so that it fits in with my story! As a completely random topic, I finished this on Father's Day, so Happy Father's Day! (I know this most likely doesn't apply to any of you, I'm just saying it in the spirit of the holiday)**


	14. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I, FallTigerKisa, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Neither it's characters, themes, nor plots (no matter how much I would have loved to make it into a yaoi). Nor do I, FallTigerKisa, own Atlantis The Lost Empire.

I have since decided that all dialogue will be in Japanese but automatically translated in English, but when the conversations are in English the words will be in English in all "**Bold**", with none of the translated word in parenthesis of course. However, a word written in "**Bold" **with the English translation in (Parenthesis) is in a different language. ~_Italicized~ _with little squiggly lines are mind-to-mind conversations. And to really mess with you all I might just put them both together in which they are mind-to-mind in a different language. I assume you all do not need an example. I'm also adding _Italicized_ as regular thoughts.

From now on, I have decided that 'the crew' will describe Mai and Keith and the surviving crew on their side; while 'the group' will be the characters you know and love.

WARNING: All chapters from now on most likely has offensive language; thank you Yami Bakura and surprise character. Also has some sexual references. I will warn you all when it is time for lemons.

I just got fed up with all my page space being monopolized by crap you all should know by now; if you're still reading my story you should already know all the other stuff from previous chapters anyway.

* * *

"Now, what's really amazing is that if you deconstructed Latin, overlaid it with a little Sumerian, and threw in a dash of Thessalonian, you'd be getting close to their basic grammatical structure; at least, you'd be in the same ball game. But based off of some obscure…" On and on Heba went, talking aloud to himself in his enthusiasm of his linguistic profession on the Atlantean language. Yami didn't have the heart to tell his brother that he wasn't all that interested and watch the gleam of excitement fade from his amethyst eyes. So he stayed quiet and pretended that he was listening while he drove onward.

The jungle that they had traversed through for the past thirty minutes of their drive had lightened when they reached a small path. The path was only big enough to have the vehicles go single-file, but they were steadily making progress. Yami kept his eyes forward as the truck crept onwards at the same pace as their Atlantean guides, while a pair of Blue-Eyes White Dragons glided lazily above the canopy up above them. Seto had apparently calmed down from his fit of anger enough to assist in the guiding of the explorers to their city, while Mokuba did lazy acrobatics in the air to pass the time.

Jou had stopped shouting out the front seat of his Hummer a few cars behind them at the silvery-dragon a good ten minutes ago; after all, how can you continue to vent your anger at a thing that wouldn't even acknowledge your prescience. Yami felt a little bad for Honda and Otogi who had to share the same vehicle space as the loud blonde. Yami hadn't heard from anyone else but his brother and the blonde's shouting in the last half hour due to the fact that the walkie-talkie that they had been using was with Otogi. So Yami was left with nothing but his thoughts and an overly excited younger brother who wasn't even carrying on a real conversation, he was mostly just talking to himself.

So Yami did what anyone would do in this situation. He tuned his little brother's voice out of his mind and stared at his newest fixation. Ogled is more like. He still couldn't quite understand why it was that the fates had decided to craft his soul-mate in the exact same form as his brother, his twin no less. He was not attracted to his brother, his brother was like an object in that department to Yami, but the sight of the other 'Heba', the Atlantean Heba look-alike, was enough to set Yami's blood on fire. He wasn't stupid, Yami had only to turn his head and see that his brother had all the same features and mannerisms as the look-alike guiding the truck, but that did not stop him from feeling his mouth water at the delicious site of wide-amethyst eyes set in a cherubic face, crowned with ebony locks tipped with magenta set in very high points as blonde bangs brushed at the pale forehead; in exactly the same way that his twin's did. He couldn't see much beneath the voluminous royal purple cloak that the other wore, but he suspected that the other was just as lean as his twin, almost child-like, especially since he knew that they were the same height. The only noticeable difference between his brother and his new fixation was that Heba had tanned skin, much like an Egyptian, while the other had skin as pale as Yami's own; which was rather strange, since the look-alike had a cousin who was the tanned version of Yami. It was as though the gods fucked up and sent the wrong children to the wrong families. But Yami was glad for it because he loved his brother, and if they had all been switched then that would mean he would be attracted to his twin, and that would just freak him out.

Still ogling his new fixation, Yami smirked to himself as he caught sight of his own Atlantean look-alike, Atemu, sending glances over his shoulder at his twin. He wasn't the only one lusting after someone that resembled a close family member. Atemu was striding side-by-side with the Heba look-alike and the Bakura look-alike, Ryou, as they conversed, as Atemu and the Heba look-alike multitasked at simultaneously guiding their expedition the rest of the way to Atlantis and calming Ryou down. Ryou had been pretty freaked out about something when he was nearly accosted by Bakura and he had seemed close to having a panic-attack; but a good half hour had passed since then and the timid Atlantean seemed to be showing signs of feeling better, at least he wasn't cowering away from everything anymore. The Heba look-alike was too busy conversing with his friend to notice that Yami had been steadily staring at him for the last half hour, while Atemu had to comfort Ryou, guide the expedition, ogle Heba, and walk all at the same time. Yami could sympathize with the cat-herding; he often felt like he had to do that constantly as well.

The last of the Atlanteans was farther ahead, to which Yami was grateful. Nobody, with the exception of Malik, seemed to enjoy the man's company and it was easy to see why. Marik, the softer look-alike of Malik, was insane; and not as in 'Oh, he's just _insane_'-insane but as 'We the jury'-insane. He was especially glad of the other man's distance since his presence just seemed to unconsciously upset Ryou more, which made Atemu and his soul-mate's jobs all the more difficult.

Speaking of Marik, Yami noticed that in the distance the bronzed blonde had just reached something and had stopped. The trees made way for the oncoming trucks and the path widened so that Atemu could see farther. The dirt path led abruptly unto a stone path that they inadvertently lined up with and the ride became much smoother. Heba didn't even notice the difference, still immersed in his Journal, while Yami ducked his head closer to the dash board so that he could see father up ahead. Crimson eyes widened as they took in the large, stone monuments on either side of a wide, plank bridge; Yami briefly wondered if the rickety-looking bridge would be able to hold them all. But as he got closer, Yami noticed with relief that the bridge only looked old because of the trailing ivy and worn varnish that encompassed the bridge, giving it an aged look; the planks themselves looked as though they were sturdy enough to hold a herd of elephants on them and barely creak.

Yami reached over and lightly shook his twin, not even looking up from the sight of the twin monuments standing like guardians on either side of the base of the bridge, to which Heba responded with a distracted, "What?" Yami kept his eyes forward as his answer and he felt his brother's head turn in the same direction. A quick inhale was his response as their truck crept forward. "What are _those_? Are they Duel Monsters too?" Heba asked in curiosity.

Yami smirked and replied back, "Guardian Statues."

Heba turned his head to stare at his twin drolly, "I know what they are. I wanted to know if they're Duel Monsters too."

Yami raised a brow in annoyed amusement as he reached over and flicked his twin on the forehead. Heba yelped at the reprimand and glared at his older brother as he rubbed the spot. Aggravation colored Yami's tone as he said slowly, "No you goof, they're _called _Guardian Statues; that's their Duel Monster card-name."

Heba blinked as a blush warmed the bridge of his nose and he smiled sheepishly. "Oh. I knew that." Heba replied quietly. Yami just rolled his eyes. Curiosity lightened amethyst eyes once more as he asked, "If they're called Guardian Statues, then does that mean that those one's are _actual _Guardian Statue Duel Monsters, or statues of Guardian Statues?"

Yami tilted his head as he examined the oncoming statues. Crimson eyes swept over the yellowish-gray stone statues that stood silently in place. The humanoid figures had sandaled feet, rock clothing looking like something from Egypt, a barrel-chested armored torso, with HUGELY disproportionate arms and hands, and a tiny, triangular-pointed shape of a head. The statues stood in utter stillness, and Yami was hard pressed to guess if they were real or not; they _looked _exactly like the illustration of the Duel Monster card, but that could simply be excellent craftsmanship.

Yami turned his head to tell his brother that he didn't know, when he saw that his twin was staring at Atemu with slightly-glazed eyes. A mischievous gleam entered Yami's eyes as he carefully blanked his face, and Yami called out, "Hey Atemu!"

Beside him, Heba startled and shot his twin a small glance that Yami noticed out of the corner of his eye, as Atemu looked back at them with a raised brow of inquiry; Yami did not miss that Atemu sent his twin a glance before he turned his attention to Yami. Yami was hard pressed to keep his smirk to himself as he called out, "Are those real Guardian Statues or monuments?"

The Heba look-alike looked over, having overheard them, and began laughing; Yami felt his heart leap at the musical sound, regardless of the fact that it sounded just like his brother's. Atemu smirked at them a bit as he turned towards the rock guardians and commanded, "At attention!" Yami and Heba both looked at the monuments in anticipation, but nothing happened.

Atemu threw his head back and laughed at their puzzled expressions as the Heba look-alike tried to stifle his giggles. Even Ryou pursed his lips to hold in his laughter, though his doe-eyes shined with his mirth. They had finally come abreast of Marik so they were close enough to hear his snort of laughter. Yami stared drolly at Atemu as Heba remarked dryly, "You would think that with him looking so much like you I would have known better. How many times when we were growing up did you do stuff like that to me, Yami?" Atemu perked his ears at this, interested in whatever his little mate had to say as Yami turned towards his twin and grinned.

"I guess he doesn't just look like me after all." Yami then turned to Atemu and complimented, "Nice trick there, Atemu." He even clapped his hands together a few times to show his sincerity.

Atemu gave a half-bow in acknowledgement as he remarked to himself, "Hm, my **aten'kheftu** is a good sport, too." Looking sidelong at Yugi, Atemu raised a brow at his younger cousin and said in an undertone, "I'm happy for you that your mate is such a good man, Yugi." A blush infused his pale cheeks as Yugi glanced shyly from Atemu to Yami. He didn't speak but then he didn't need to, because his expression said it all. Atemu smiled at his cousin genuinely as he sent him a teasing wink. Yugi just turned his head back to where they were going, his entire face a bright red. Beside him, Ryou was chuckling quietly to himself at his friends' reaction, as Yugi sent him an embarrassed face.

Meanwhile, Yami was having an equally quiet conversation with his twin. Nonchalance coloring his tone, Yami said to him, "So, I see that the person who's finally been able to capture my little brother's eye is quite the interesting man." Heba shot Yami a quick look, his face heating up as he perceived the teasing glint in his twin's eyes.

Striving for an equally nonchalant tone, Heba cleared his throat and said, "Whatever are you talking about, Yami?"

Yami just snorted as Heba scrunched up his face at the horrible habit that had just given away his lie; he always talked in a much more polite tone whenever he was trying to get away with something. Heba wanted to smack himself, but he refrained as his blush radiated up to his ears. Praying that the gods would have mercy on him, Heba tried to call back what he did and amended, "I don't know what you're talking about, Yami."

Yami sent him a droll look as he rolled his crimson-colored eyes. His brother couldn't fool him. Affecting a bored tone, Yami said slowly, "Just talking to myself aloud." Heba breathed a sigh of relief until Yami continued, "You know, about the fact that you're eyes have undressed Atemu every time you've glanced his way." Heba almost fainted on the spot from all the blood in his body rushing up to his head. His tanned face now looked sun-burnt as he stared at Yami, his eyes wide and his mouth agape, looking the utter epitome of embarrassed astonishment.

His expression was so hilarious that Yami lost his composure and laughed aloud. Tears of embarrassment filled Heba's eyes as he whined pitifully, "Yaaamiiii!" Heba's eyes immediately glanced towards the Atlanteans, terrified that they had heard Yami and would _know_, but they seemed to be having their own conversation and were too busy to notice Yami's hastily choked off laughter.

Yami wiped the tears from his eyes as they finally reached the bridge, the smooth stone being replaced by wooden planks; but just as Yami had thought, the planks held up under their weight. Heba was momentarily distracted as he noticed that below them was a moat filled with molten lava; it was enough to unnerve him while a part of his brain was filing it away for later study. Steam rose from where the waterfall met the lava and rose up around the truck. Heba turned back to his twin immediately after his brain had filed away the phenomenon and said, "It's not _funny!_ How would _you _feel if you realized that the only person to make your blood race, looked like _your _twin brother?"

Yami stopped laughing and raised a brow at his brother as he replied, "But I _have_." Heba jerked his head around to stare at his brother, taken aback. Seeing Heba's reaction, Yami raised his other brow to join the first and asked rhetorically, "You really hadn't noticed?" He then sent an exaggerated glance at the Atlantean 'Heba' walking between Atemu and Ryou.

Heba followed his twin's gaze and realization slammed into him. His jaw dropped as he turned back to stare at his twin in utter bewilderment, Heba questioned, "Since when?" His voice hadn't risen high enough for the Atlantean to hear, but enough for Yami to glance back at them to make sure they still weren't paying attention.

When he ascertained that he and his brother didn't have an audience to their conversation, Yami shrugged and offhandedly said, "Since the submarine."

Mystified, Heba parroted back, "The submarine? Yami you hadn't even _met _him yet!" A sudden memory surfaced in his mind and Heba felt his eyes widen before they narrowed in suspicion at his twin as he scrutinized his brother and said, "Unless this has something to do with the secret you were keeping from me after what happened when you touched the Puzzle Box."

Yami glanced at his twin, his main focus still on the road ahead of them, as he replied, "I wasn't keeping it a secret from you. I just didn't have the opportunity to tell you without anyone around to hear."

Heba squinted his eyes at his brother as he folded his arms across his chest, as he drew out, "And?"

Yami flicked his gaze towards the Heba look-alike walking with Atemu, Ryou, and Marik, and his gaze softened as he recounted, "When I touched the Box, it was as though I was transported somewhere else for a split-second. I stood in a bedroom that I had never seen before and _he_," Yami sent a nod towards the Atlantean 'Heba' before he continued, "was asleep in the bed. I knew that he wasn't you because as soon as I saw him, I felt as though our souls interconnected and I could feel everything he was feeling. He was dreaming at the time but I knew that he was tired and that he had gone to bed early because he had to go out hunting in the morning. The next thing I knew, I was back on the submarine; but I could still feel him through the Box whenever I was touching bare skin to it, so I knew that I wasn't going crazy."

Heba stared at his twin in anticipation but Yami just continued to stare out the front of the truck, his eyes focused on the other 'Heba'. Heba asked, "So that's why you were so focused on the Puzzle Box?"

Yami flicked his gaze at his twin and explained, "Somewhat. After the submarine, I just put the Box away for later and when I touched it the second time, he was awake."

Heba's eyes widened in excitement as he asked, "So you guys knew each other before we were even close to Atlantis? What was it like?"

Amused by his twin's eagerness, Yami said, "We didn't really _talk_-talk, it was more like how we were communicating between the dragons; with our minds. The only difference was that we couldn't speak in words, it was more like impressions, emotions." At Heba's mystified look Yami explained, "When we connected when he was awake, he was out hunting and I knew this because I _felt _his concentration, his quiet anticipation as he hunted. But when he felt me, he was startled and hurt himself and I felt his surprised pain. We 'talked' a bit, we weren't really able to glean anything from each other, but we at least knew each other." Glancing over, he saw his twin's eyes wide in awe and Yami said, "When the Puzzle began disassembling, I couldn't feel him anymore. But I get the feeling that if the Puzzle gets reassembled into its' second shape, then we'll be able to communicate through our minds in complete sentences."

Heba snapped out of his awe and exclaimed, "So _that's _why you were so excited about the Puzzle!" Yami smirked at his brother, as they fell into contemplative silence. Heba had new things to consider and he immediately set to work thinking, hypothesizing, and trying to find information on everything that he had learned in the Journal.

The rest of the ride was spent in inane chatter from Heba and concentrated silence from Yami, who was focused on driving and watching their Atlantean guides and their group dynamics. Several times he caught sight if the two dragons as they drove along though Mokuba appeared to be spending most of his time flying above and to the side of the Hummer that was a few vehicles behind them, while Seto seemed to be keeping his distance. Yami wondered yet again what in the hell it was that Seto had been talking about when he got angry at Jou and Atemu, and Yami tried coming up with new hypotheses on why it was that a few of their party members had been feeling the strange warmth in their chests since they arrived here that mysteriously vanished as soon as they met Atlanteans.

Yami had originally thought that the warmth in their chests was an indicator that they had an Atlantean soul-mate amongst some of the Atlanteans, since he knew that the warmth in his chest had been leading him inextricably closer to his little Heba look-alike. He had assumed that that meant that the other five had been feeling it because they had their own mates in Atlantis, and judging from his twin and Malik with Atemu and Marik it had been a pretty safe bet. He was a little puzzled by Ryou and Bakura, but they could have still technically been mates in his opinion. It was Jou and Shizuka with the two dragons that had made him reevaluate his earlier idea. There was no way a dragon could be a mate with a human; no matter that the two dragons were sentient, it was merely a way of biology and Yami knew instinctively that a mate-bond was created in order to carry on with the next generation. And a dragon and human could _not _reproduce together. So Yami was back to trying to figure out what the hell the warmth meant. But no matter how hard he tried, all the ideas just seemed to feel wrong; a nagging in is gut was telling him that the warmth was an indicator of a mate.

To distract himself from the frustrating going around in continuous circles, Yami took stock of his surroundings, figuring that the view itself would be enough to keep his mind fully engaged and distracted. They had passed over the wooden bridge a while ago along with its' two Guardian Statues statues on the other side. They were still on a bridge, but this one was stone and directly above the water; so close in fact, that Yami wondered briefly if the bridge became submerged at high tide. They were crossing the bridge slowly, it seemed to be a one-shot main-way that led directly to the largest of the islands. There were smaller bridges that led onto offshoots where the smaller islands were and some that even led off towards nothing at all before being swallowed into the water.

Yami was so close to the water that he could see fish in the water, and sometimes even a few aquatic creatures that he had never seen outside of his Duel Monsters games. The two-dimensional illustrations on small cards were nothing in comparison to the real things but he made sure to keep watching the road so that he didn't accidentally drive the truck into the water.

Far off in the distance, there were several partially submerged structures and a flock of aerial Duel Monsters, called Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagles, were roosting in the ruins. A few flew closer to investigate them and Yami was surprised at how large they were; they looked as though they could easily carry a full grown person on their back, though they weren't nearly as large as the dragons. Strangely enough, the creatures seemed to harbor no fear of the immense Blue-Eyes, though they did seem to give them the respect that the regal dragons deserved. Bird eyes filled with an animal intelligence watched the procession in curiosity but Yami didn't think they were sentient like the dragons were; they merely watched them as any other creature would as something unknown passed through their land, and the few curious birds soon went back to whatever they were doing before they were interrupted by the procession.

Onward the procession went in relative silence since Heba had finally looked up from the Journal and was staring at everything around him in awe, his jaw dropped in wonder at all the fantastical sights while Yami drove along. The Atlanteans up ahead conversed quietly amongst themselves when Atemu suddenly looked upwards toward Seto. Yami assumed they were speaking to each other telepathically when Seto veered off his present course and approached a large monument several yards away from the bridge. The monument was so encrusted with moss that Yami couldn't even begin to try to decipher if it was a Duel Monster or not, but he was pulled out of his contemplation when Seto let off a stream of blue lightning at a part of the monument. Instantly a circle of fire erupted from that part and when the flame was ignited, Yami could see the vaguely humanoid shape and that the flaming part was where the 'hands' would be as they held something. It appeared to be a large bowl and Yami guessed it was filled with flammable liquid, like oil.

Farther off in the distance, Yami could see a bright light erupt from a different monument, and another, until there seemed to be a series of lights that led all the way towards the largest island. Realizing that it was a signal light used in a brazier, Yami glanced at Atemu to see the other man staring at them. Yami raised his voice and said, "Probably been a long time since you've had to use those."

Surprisingly, Atemu smirked and replied slyly, "Not too terribly long actually."

Yami was surprised at this and said in bewilderment, "I thought those were for announcing visitors."

Atemu smirked and cryptically said, "They are."

Yami opened his mouth to ask who else had been visiting them, but was cut off by his twin as Heba asked, "How do they know that it's not used for something else? What system do you use to convey the different messages between say, visitors and enemies? How can they tell the difference?"

Atemu appeared surprised at the enthusiasm that infused Heba's being but then his ruby-red eyes gleamed with an inner light as he explained, "The brazier is enchanted with a spell that changes the fire's color based upon the feeling of the lighter. Seto lit the fire and conveyed to the spell that you all were visitors and the fire therefore became the regular flame-red for visitors. If you were enemies the fire would have turned purplish-black, or if you were wounded allies then it would turn green. Silver flame is for ceremonies and golden fire is a signal for a natural disaster on its' way." Heba soaked in the information, and the speakers voice at the same time, and Yami could almost see the newest questions forming in Heba's eyes. But what Yami really noticed was the look in Atemu's eyes; Atemu was _genuinely _interested in his country and culture, just as Heba was interested as well. Yami wanted to smirk as he caught the passionate gleam of a scholar's mind inside Atemu's eyes and thought, _Oh yeah, he'll get along with Heba _just _fine. Way to go little brother._ He glanced at his twin in amusement before his gaze flickered over to his little fixation, whose name he still didn't know.

The Heba look-alike was walking along the path, talking quietly with Ryou; at least Ryou seemed to be much better, he even smiled a bit here and there. Overhead, Seto realigned himself with the road and Yami assumed that Mokuba was still behind them, near Shizuka in the Hummer. Marik was further ahead, appearing lost in thought. Atemu was carrying on a conversation with Heba, something about the mechanics of the spell around the signal flare and the chemical make-up of the specialized oil itself that Heba was eagerly soaking up, as Yami tuned out the conversation in order to ogle his little Atlantean 'Heba'.

It took the procession a good hour to reach the base of the largest island, but when they would have continued along to reach the largest road, the main one from the looks of it, the Atlanteans started walking down a side road that curved around the island. The structures that looked like they were populated were up on the cliff above them that the main road seemed to lead up to, but the curving road went towards ruined structures, looking seemingly like a ghost-town. Yami wondered at the change, knowing that they could be leading them directly into a trap, but Yami didn't feel any of his instincts acting up and refrained from asking, deciding to trust their guides.

Heba however, felt no compunction about asking questions and asked confusedly, "Why are we going this way? It looks like the populated road is that way."

Atemu glanced back and opened his mouth to explain but it was the Heba look-alike that cut him off and said, "This is the road that leads to the palace without having to cut through the main city. Everyone already knows you all are here, and they would either be curious and stall our time on getting to the palace, or attack you since you don't have the formal protection of the King and his Council yet to protect you. So it's just easier to slip this way instead." Heba nodded at this explanation and Yami felt that it made sense; he would have probably done the same in the Atlanteans' position.

Continuing along through the ruins, Yami didn't see any people; although he did catch sight of quite a few Duel Monsters. The smaller and more common ones like Thousand Needles and Rescue Cats could be seen scampering around the ruins, as well as a few small aerial Duel Monsters called Chrysalis Chickies and Heba cocked his head to the side at how adorable they all were; what, with their small bodies and large eyes that stared at the procession in wide-eyed curiosity. The Chrysalis Chickies _chirped _cutely at them and a couple of the Recue Cats bounded over to the walking Atlanteans and twined around Ryou and the Heba look-alike's ankles, purring all the while. What really startled Yami though, was when the Rescue Cats inclined their heads towards Atemu; almost as though they were giving him deference? The spell was broken however when they caught sight of Marik and hissed in his direction before scampering off. Marik chuckled lowly as he stared after them with cruelty-laced eyes while Atemu nudged him to keep moving forward. Ryou and the Atlantean 'Heba' waved after the departing Rescue Cats and Chrysalis Chickies as they continued on their way.

Through the ruins they went, the water on their left and a rocky cliff-side to their right as the pathway curved with the cliff-side. The ruins themselves were attached to the cliff-side while a few ruins were crumbling, partially submerged, inside the water to their left. The patch of earth they were travelling along was pretty wide, so they could have technically driven with two vehicles side-by-side, but no one knew how long that would last so they stayed in their single-file formation.

The curve continued along for a good fifteen minutes; Heba was back to looking through his Journal and the Atlanteans were back to quietly discussing whatever it was they had been talking about earlier, leaving Yami once again immersed in his own thoughts. The pathway suddenly opened up even further to a large clearing, and imbedded into the cliff-side was a _huge _set of closed stone double doors inset with gold and precious stones. On either side of the two doors, were a pair of brazier stands, their bronze bowls lit with red flames. The curving path continued along past the double doors, and Yami assumed that it was the matching counterpart to the path they were currently on. It was a no-brainer that the double doors were to the palace, which was probably the only reason why Yami wasn't startled by the appearance of two Duel Monster warriors guarding either ends of the door; both were humanoid in shape, completely covered in blue armor with drastically pointed golden armor pieces on the midsection, shoulders, and helmet, a cape of the same colored blue as the rest of their armor, while they both held identical blue shields with golden embellishments and enormous swords strapped to their backs with hilts of gold. Yami recognized them as Photon Caesars, level eight Duel Monster warrior-types, and he couldn't help but be impressed; these one's were definitely real ones as they immediately stood at attention when they came into view.

Heba startled at the sudden movements of the warriors that he had caught out of the corner of his eye, and looked up from his Journal. Amethyst eyes went wide as he stared at the guards and door in wonder. Yami chuckled at his twin's expression and rolled the truck to a stop. The two warriors did not appear surprised by their appearance and they did not pull out their weapons, but instead, they bowed low at the waist as Atemu stepped forward. Yami wondered at the strange reverence that all the Duel Monster's he'd seen seemed to give to Atemu, as he turned off the truck engine. Heba hopped out of the truck as soon as it was off and walked over to the Atlanteans that had stopped at the wide-double doors. The warriors made movements towards the doors but Atemu sent them a hand motion that clearly meant 'wait', to which they reverted back to their original positions in front of the doors.

Yami hopped out as well to join his curious brother as he heard other vehicles turn off as well, though a few of them that were out of sight around the curve took a little longer since they couldn't see why they had stopped. Heba was inquiring something that Yami missed but that Ryou surprisingly answered; it seemed that the albino wasn't intimidated by Heba, and was thus able to converse with him easily. Yami almost snorted in amusement at the idea of _anyone _finding his twin intimidating, but he refrained himself. The Heba look-alike that Yami was so fascinated by was standing with Ryou and Heba and appeared to be adding in to the conversation as well, while Atemu kept his eyes on the path they had just come from for the rest of the procession of people. Marik had his arms folded across his chest and was staring intently at the door; Yami would almost say that he was scrutinizing the craftsmanship, in narrow-eyed concentration, in the same way that Yami looked for weaknesses in an opponent's strategy. Yami turned his head away from the strange blonde when he heard movement off to his left as Seto landed on the ground and folded his wings against his back. Yami could see Mokuba still near the Hummer but seemed to be slowly making his way closer as he conversed with someone; probably Shizuka.

Pretty soon, Yami could see the other explorers arriving and was displeased to see Keith and Mai arrive first; not that it was surprising, since they had been in the vehicle directly behind them. Atemu also narrowed his eyes in displeasure as he was reminded of their presences; Heba, Ryou, and the Heba look-alike were so engrossed in their discussion that they didn't notice their approach while Marik and Seto merely ignored them. Yami was somewhat relieved when Malik, Bakura, and Rebecca showed up next; Bakura's eyes going directly to Ryou and staying there, Rebecca staring around her in wide-eyed curiosity, and Malik made his way in a daze to stand next to Marik and drool in adoration at the jewel-encrusted door that Marik was still scrutinizing. Yami and Atemu raised their brows in sync at Malik's blissed out expression before shrugging to themselves at the strange behavior; Yami at least had a clue about Malik's eccentricity in regards to jewels, while Atemu could only assume that Malik was as unscrewed in the head as his blonde mate. Atemu almost felt pity for the softer-looking blonde before reminding himself that the Gods made each mate-pair perfect for the individual others. Still, he couldn't help but feel some measure of concern for the other male; seeing as how the tanned youth would soon be one of his subjects, unknowing though he was.

Other crew members slowly trickled forward and the remainder of the group were the last to make their way forward. Honda and Otogi were eyeing the Duel Monster guards somewhat cautiously as Jou held his sister's arm to steer her gently in the direction they had to go. Shizuka's face was upturned towards the younger dragon that hovered over her protectively as she smiled at him gently. Jou was very careful with where his sister stepped, but he was still pissed off enough at the older dragon to flick up a glance of anger at him as he hissed quietly, "Asshole."

Seto didn't even turn his head to look at the blonde as he sneered back, _~Mutt.~_

Jou opened his mouth to retort angrily back but was interrupted as Keith said, "**What are we waiting for? Let's get a move on.**" He even took a step towards the giant double doors but the two Photon Caesars unsheathed their swords and crossed their blades in front of Keith, effectively blocking the entrance. Keith backed up a step or so at the show of force as Marik and Seto let out identical snorts of disdain; although one was a bit louder considering that it came from a dragonish snout instead of a human mouth, but still similar in tone nonetheless.

Atemu glared at the man as he coolly replied, "**I'm afraid that the entire party has not been invited to the palace itself. The majority of your men and women will have to remain here. Only a few are allowed through.**" Keith's face went purple with rage as he realized that he would be without a good deal of his gunman, and was too busy spluttering in outrage to notice Atemu's quiet undertone in Japanese, "And if not for the fact that he was the one leading this crew then I wouldn't invite him either." Those that understood Japanese sent him small smirks and a few grins. Effectively cutting Keith's bumbling words with a whip of authority, Atemu stated coldly, "**You and your Lieutenant may come with us as well as two bodyguards of your choosing, as is your right as visitors based on our customs. However, those that are invited to the palace are our four aten'kheftu's as well as the blonde man and his blind sister, and the small girl-child.**"He nodded over at Jou and Shizuka before gesturing towards Rebecca.

"**What in the hell is an ate- whatever? And why those three?**" Keith asked; not like he was worried about what happened to the three in question but more of an underhanded, oily kind of way.

Ryou hid behind Heba and his look-alike away from the smarmy man as Marik and Malik sneered at him. Mokuba had landed behind Jou and Shizuka and had placed his head in front of her, protectively hiding her behind him and putting himself in a position to be pet by her at the same time. Honda and Otogi were a little worried about this new predicament but it was Jou who was wondering the most as to why he and his sister had been invited as well. He was just a lowly cook and, aside from his bad behavior towards the large dragon, he couldn't think of any reason why he would be allowed to come along as well. Was it for punishment, because he was so rude to Seto? That wasn't fair, the silver dragon had been rude first! But then why would Shizuka be invited too? She hadn't done anything wrong; all she had done was befriend the smaller dragon, Mokuba. All these thoughts circled in Jou's mind as his intelligent honey-amber eyes flitted from Shizuka, to Seto, to Atemu, to Keith, and back again, worried and a little afraid, but somehow comforted by the fact that Seto was near him which made him more than a little pissed off. Rebecca was more surprised than most as to why she had been chosen; it didn't take a genius to figure out who those of interest were since they resembled the Atlanteans so much, why the leaders would be picked, or why the two with the connections with the dragons would be picked. But why her? It didn't make any sense.

Atemu explained, "**An aten'kheftu is a _very _old word in Ancient Egyptian; it literally means 'mirror-image'. It is the term we use for those like Mister Yami, Mister Heba, Mister Bakura, and Mister Malik because they look so much like us; they are, in effect, our aten'kheftu's.**" Understanding washed across many faces at this, but more questions were raised in those that wondered what in the hell the significance was. Flawlessly, Atemu continued, his eyes flicking at the three he had invited, "**As for them, that one cannot see and the other female is a child; and it is against our morals as Atlanteans to let visitors with children and infirm to be shut out of any place when we could offer comfort to them instead. We Atlanteans rarely have children so they are a blessing to us all, and those that are injured among our guests, so long as they are not considered as threats, are allowed shelter amongst us. It only makes sense to allow her brother to come along as well to see to her care.**" Atemu made it all sound as though it made perfect sense, and in a way it did. Many were still a bit suspicious but Yami, Heba, and Jou had only to look directly into Atemu's ruby-red eyes to realize that he was serious and that he really was that kind-natured. It made Yami's respect for the man ratchet up another notch and butterflies to go off in Heba's stomach. Jou was a bit more relieved but he still stared at his sister in worry. Atemu seemed to sense his discomfort and offered gently, "If it would make you feel more comfortable, you may be allowed to bring two bodyguards for her protection as well."

Jou snapped his head up and stared at the man in shock at the offer as he replied, "Don't ya tink yer king would have a problem wit you lettin' so many people into his home?" Yami and Atemu raised their brows at the man as Seto swiveled his head around to stare in surprise at the blonde for his uncharacteristic grasp and tact for the situation at hand.

Atemu almost answered with the truth but was interrupted by Keith, "**What are you talking about?**" He sounded like he was tired of having to repeat himself but was trying hard not to let his anger show. Atemu had dealt with people like this before and he barely acknowledged the man with a flick of a glance before his gaze was back to Jou.

"**It won't be a problem, and even if it was, it would be directed at me, not you or your sister.**" Atemu said.

Seeing the blonde weakening as those golden-brown flickered to his sister in uncertainty, Mokuba pleaded, not wanting his mate to be uncomfortable in any way, **_~She would have a nice warm bed to sleep in and a place to bathe as well as servants to help her with anything she needed. Please, please, please? With a cherry on top?~_**

Soulful sapphire eyes stared up into honey-amber, and Jou couldn't help the tiny laugh that escaped him as he asked, "**How in da hell do ya know dat slang?**" He then shook his head and said before Mokuba could reply, "**Neva**** mind.**" He sent a small glance at Honda and Otogi, his two best friends that loved Shizuka nearly as much as he did and saw the looks of protectiveness in their eyes. He looked over at Atemu and said, "**We'll come if it's alright if I bring dese two. Honda is a doctor an' I want him close by if Shizuka needs him, an' both he an' Otogi are good in a fight.**" He then blushed as he rushed in, "**Not dat I tink we'll be doin' much fightin' but it's just in case- ya know-,**" Jou cut himself off, afraid he had stuck his entire leg up his mouth instead of just his foot.

But Atemu smiled and replied, "**I understand completely. It is best to have those ready for a fight and not need it than to need those people and not have them.**" Atemu truly didn't take offense. He had been attacked and nearly assassinated more than once in his own palace, so he felt that it was good to take extra precautions for his mate and his friend's mates. He glanced over at the two the blonde was referring to and saw that Jou was correct in picking them; one met his eyes with a hint of steel in his brown eyes that gave him a glimpse of the warrior underneath his obviously caring nature, and the other looked at him with the emerald-green eyes of one who would gladly die for those that he loved, Mokuba's mate being one of them. Pleased, Atemu nodded at the choices and replied, "**They may enter as well, as guards to the Lady Shizuka.**" Jou and the other two males relaxed as Atemu glanced over at the bespectacled girl and asked, "**And you, Miss? Will you be joining us as well?**"

Rebecca thought it over for all of twelve milliseconds before replying back, "**And miss the chance to see the inside of an Atlantean palace? Sign me up.**" Atemu almost smiled but caught himself as Rebecca narrowed her eyes at him and warned him, "**But don't think that that means that I need any bodyguards, mister. I can handle myself just fine.**" She looked almost comical as she shook a finger at the tanned Atlantean in warning as Marik, Malik, and the Heba look-alike burst out laughing. Mokuba gave dragonish chuckles as his older brother's icy-blue eyes crinkled a bit at the corners as his monarch cousin was scolded by a pre-teen that was a fraction of his age. Ryou giggled behind the two smaller spiky-haired men as Honda, Otogi, Jou, and Yami tried to smother their own laughter. Only Bakura was unaffected as he stared at Ryou and just soaked in the sound of his musical laughter.

Feeling his own amusement bubble to the surface, Atemu bowed at the waist to he hide his mirth as and placated, "**Of course, my lady.**" Marik and the Heba look-alike just snickered louder. Atemu ignored them completely as he straightened and smoothed his face into polite stoicism. Glancing around him, he addressed everyone there, "**Now then, those that will be coming inside should gather their belongings for their stay in the palace, and those that will not shall stay with the vehicles and will be escorted in a few minutes by some guards to a safe area for your camp. None of you will go into town at present seeing as how none of you have protection from the royal family yet, and if you are caught there then you will either be arrested or killed; it depends on who finds you.**" His eyes were deadly serious and more than a few in the crew shivered under his gaze; those that were invited to the palace (except Jou and Shizuka) sprinted to their respective vehicles to get their belongings.

Keith was beyond furious at the presumptuousness of the red-eyed Atlantean for giving orders to _his _men; his blood was boiling and his face turned red at the effort to keep his temper reigned in so that he didn't do something to ruin his chances at tricking the Atlanteans (not knowing that his chances were less than zero anyway). He chose two of his most loyal gunman to be his bodyguards as he and Mai went and retrieved their stuff as well.

Mokuba was happily jabbering away at Shizuka and Jou as he enthused, _~Oh, I just know you're going to have so much fun with us! I'll show you the kitchens and the throne room and the gardens and all the other fun places that we can play in! And then we can go to the Known Archives with Nii-sama and Father-~ _He abruptly cut off as he was reminded of his parents. Turning his gaze towards his older brother, his eyes a bit uncertain he asked, _~Nii-sama? You don't think Mom and Dad are angry with us, do you?~_

Seto looked at his younger brother and his uncertain posture as he replied, _~If they are, then it'll only be for a little while. Father will understand at least, and mother will most likely just be relieved that we are not harmed.~_ He then turned his gaze back to watching his surroundings and the people around them for signs of aggression. The other crew members who weren't invited all went back to their own vehicles so that they would be ready to move to their next location when the guards come to escort them.

Mokuba brightened at his brother's words as he nodded happily. But it was Shizuka who inquired, "So we're going to meet your parents as well? Are they Blue-Eyes White Dragons too? What are they like?" Yami and Heba returned with their belongings first since their vehicle was right there, so they were able to hear Shizuka's inquiry.

Mokuba replied easily, _~Oh yes, you most definitely have to meet them; especially since Dad is on the Council. Dad is a lot like Nii-sama, but he's mellower because of Mom. Mom is sweet to everyone but very scary to anyone that threatens those she loves, you'll like her a lot and I'm sure she'll absolutely love you. And yes, they're both Blue-Eyes like Seto and I, though Mom is the one with the official clan title.~_

Jou, Heba, and Yami all wore puzzled expressions at some of the things that Mokuba was saying, as Shizuka replied back, "I hope they both like me; I can tell that I'll really like them. But what is a clan title and why does only your mother have one?"

Yami also felt he had to add, "And how can your father be on the Council? Can other Duel Monsters be on this Council?"

Mokuba blinked at them both as Seto replied stoically, _~Father is on the Council because he is valued for his wisdom and good judgment, as well as the fact that he was once the holder of one of the nine holy objects; after the object released him, he had been on the Council long enough for the other Councilmen to see his value and they kept him as one of them. I can guess what you mean by "Duel Monsters", but there are no creatures or "monsters" as you like to call them on the Council except for the Life Partners of the Councilmen.~_ Seto then turned to Shizuka and continued, _~As for the clan title, I can assume you know what a clan is, yes?~_

Shizuka nodded as Jou replied, "Kinda like a family right? Except dat it's more like a extended family dat all groups around each oder."

Sapphire eyes narrowed at the blonde as Seto grudgingly addressed Jou back, _~Equivalently, yes. Most sentient Shadow Realm creatures belong to a clan, and sometimes each species of creatures have more than one clan. Out of the four of us, only Mother was born of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon clan.~_

Atemu, Ryou, Marik, and the Heba look-alike did not react to this information. Malik, Bakura, and Rebecca were joining them as Heba questioned, "Why? Why your mother but not you guys or your father?"

Shadows flickered in Seto's eyes a split-second before his eyes iced over and he coldly replied, _~Because Father was not born a Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Mokuba and I were born too late to be given official titles as part of the clan.~_

Shizuka pet the smaller dragon that had fallen silent and sad at something as Heba and Yami tried to sort out what they had just been told. Rebecca was looking at the dragons in puzzlement at having come in late for the conversation while Bakura and Malik completely ignored the situation altogether; Malik to go back to drooling over the beautiful door, and Bakura to watch the other albino as he tried to control his temper at having to leave all his explosives behind. Each of them had at least two bags or duffels thrown over their shoulders from all their belongings but Bakura wasn't allowed to bring his crates of explosives; of which Ryou and Atemu were very happy about. It was Jou who asked, "Not born a Blue-Eyes? Den what da hell was he?"

Seto turned to him and his eyes went even colder as he sneered at him without answering back. Jou narrowed his eyes at the giant dragon and his temper sparked as he snapped, "Not gonna answer, ya stuck-up prick? Fine, be an asshole. Besides, luggage aint supposed ta talk anyway." Atemu felt his lips quirk at the corners as Marik laughed outright. Yami raised a brow at his friend as he wondered if the blonde had a death wish while Malik, Bakura, Ryou, Shizuka, Mokuba, and the Heba look-alike either watched on in curiosity or ignored them completely. Rebecca and Heba both widened their eyes in worry for the tall blonde as Otogi and Honda finally joined them, both with twice as many bags over their shoulders since they were carrying Jou and Shizuka's stuff as well as their own.

Cold fire sparked in Seto's eyes as he sneered back, _~There's nothing more pathetic than a dog that can't even bark properly.~ _ Honey-amber eyes flared up with renewed temper as he snarled at the larger dragon; not even saying anything, just flat-out _snarled_ at Seto. Seto resumed staring at the sky in boredom as he caustically 'said', _~Pathetic at snarling too.~_

Jou actually took a step forward as if he was going to throttle the dragon physically, but Honda stepped forward and held him back before he could hurt himself. Otogi grabbed the stuff that was Shizuka's and Jou's and handed them to the blonde in order to keep his hands busy; all the while the two lovers were sending angry glares at the silver dragon. Just before Jou could tell his friends off for ruining his intention of hurting the asshole, Mai and Keith with their two bodyguards joined them at last.

With the last of their party finally there, Atemu addressed them all and said, "**Time to go.**" He nodded to the two Photon Caesars and the two pushed the large double-doors open for them. The doors were large enough to allow Seto in comfortably so they had to be heavy doors; which let everyone know just how strong the Photon Caesars must be to be able to open them with such ease. The giant doors eased open smoothly and Atemu lead the way.

They went through an enormous main corridor with a vaulted ceiling; many smaller corridors split off in different directions but it was obvious that this main one led somewhere, so everyone could easily crane their heads and look around at the sights without having to worry about getting lost. The dragons walked along the same path and Jou tried to focus ahead of him instead of everything around him since he was leading Shizuka as well and didn't want to get her injured just because he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. Pillars and columns were interspaced along the pathway and these were decorated with Egyptian hieroglyphics and what Heba and Yami recognized as cuneiform; which struck them as slightly odd. The depictions were painted beautifully and had quite a few jewels mixed in to enhance the decorations. Giant statues of creatures that the Duelists recognized as Duel Monsters were also interspersed along the walls. Pots and trays were near each of the statues as though they were offering to the statues and Heba wondered if the Atlanteans prayed to the Duel Monsters as Gods. Tapestries lined the walls that were not otherwise decorated by hieroglyphs and other strange writing; Heba recognized the swirling language as the same one in his Journal which meant it was Atlantean. Everyone felt as though they had stepped into an Ancient Egyptian palace as the white walls were embellished with gold, platinum, and silver; Heba and Yami were the most awed since they had gone on several expeditions with their Grandpa to Egyptian tombs in their youths, which made them appreciate just how pristine the palace was. It was Malik though who was almost in tears as he gazed around him; he felt as though he had finally come home. He was a native-born Egyptian and he had grown up in the ruins of a palace very similar to this one, so this place just gave him all the vibes of comfort and love. And this palace was in _way _better condition than his previous home, which gave him the added comfort of not being his actual childhood home; this place didn't give him the feeling that a sinister shadow was stalking him.

They made their way through the corridor easily enough, but it was at the entrance of a giant doorway that Atemu suddenly stopped. Everyone also stopped as he turned his head to regard the statue to his right, his eyes slightly narrow. The Heba look-alike and Ryou also turned their heads as they followed Atemu's gaze and smiled as they realized what he was actually staring at. Seto snorted and Atemu left the path to walk up to the statue of a Flame Swordsman; or rather, the cluster of giant clay pots to the side of the statue. The expedition members were obviously puzzled and Heba couldn't help but wonder if Atemu was going to make an offering of some sort. But that thought was immediately negated when Atemu stepped up to a pot on the right and tapped on the edge. In exasperated amusement, Atemu called out, "**I know you're in there. Come on out and meet our guests.**"

The expedition members only had a split-second to wonder if Atemu was a little crazy when a girlish squeal emitted from the pot before a blur of brown and tan color flew out of the pot to latch onto Atemu. A teenage girl, maybe a little older than Shizuka but definitely smaller, dressed in a tan and white dress-styled shenti was wrapped around Atemu like a monkey. A mop of messy brown hair was adorned by a strange headpiece that looked almost like a sideways bandanna made of white cloth with a connecting gold clasp at the front and slightly to the side of her head. Her dress, which was rather short since it only came to her knees at the longest part, was cinched at her tiny waist by a pure gold belt, and was in an off-the-shoulder style with little flowing sleeves that was held firmly in place thanks to a small golden pectoral designed into the dress itself. Luckily though, her dress was loose around her somewhat curvy waist to allow for better movement, which is the only reason her dress didn't ride up and end up flashing everyone when she wrapped her legs around Atemu's waist to hold herself in place. Her tanned arms were also wrapped around him and golden bracelets adorned with giant pieces of lapis lazuli were affixed to her wrists. Her ample breasts pressed against Atemu's chest as she squeezed him in her friendly exuberance.

Heba felt a stab of jealously at the unknown woman's embrace of Atemu and felt his eyes narrow as a feeling of possessive anger ripped through him. The only thing that stopped him from going over there and yanking all that mink-brown hair from the woman's head until she released the other man was that the woman drew her head back from where it had been hidden in Atemu's hair. A beautiful face was smiling up at Atemu in such utter happiness as moss-green eyes sparkled cheerfully into ruby-red, and Heba realized right away that the woman was just a girl and that this was her personality, not a sexual assault. None of the other Atlanteans seemed surprised by the brunette girl's excessive behavior and Heba recognized the look of brotherly love on Atemu's face as he held the girl steady. The girl began babbling happily, "**Atemu, Atemu, Atemu! I thought you were Shishou **(master; more of in a disciple kind of way than an actual master-slave kind of way) **and was trying to drag me back to my lessons, or else I would've popped out earlier! I missed you!**" Her eyes then turned to look at the overwhelmed explorers and the amused Atlanteans before she squealed again and released Atemu to then glomp onto the nearest Atlantean; Ryou. "**Ryou! I missed you too!**" Ryou looked embarrassed and returned her hug a bit timidly before she moved onto the Heba look-alike and simply hugged him while jumping up and down as she squeezed the life out of him. She by-passed Marik and Seto, but she hugged the column of Mokuba's leg as she laughed up at him joyously.

Looking a little lost, Heba was the first to say a timid, "**Hello?**" The brunette girl's eyes seemed to see him for the first time before her eyes widened and she exclaimed an excited, "OH!" before she glomped on to him too. Heba didn't know what to do and turned to his brother, his eyes wide in bewilderment. Yami had to bite his lower lip to keep from laughing, and Honda, Jou, Otogi, and Malik didn't even bother trying to stop their own. Bakura was uninterested, the author doesn't care about Keith and Mai or their bodyguards to really bother with their reactions, and Rebecca was glaring at the other female in jealousy.

The pre-teen quickly grabbed Heba by the wrist and yanked him out of the brunette's hold to which the older girl simply blinked at her in puzzlement. The Atlantean girl then grinned in open friendliness and simply threw her arms around both Heba and Rebecca as she hugged them both, not showing any hard feeling at all. Rebecca looked a little startled and the other males just laughed harder as Heba blushed in embarrassment. Atemu decided to rescue his little mate from his child-hood friend and her smothering hugs, with the added bonus of pulling him out of touching either of the girls, and grasped hold of his little mate. Lightning heat raced through Atemu and Heba's blood at the contact as the skin where they touched tingled in a very pleasant way, and Atemu took a moment to savor it before gently pulling the blushing youth out of his friends' arms, muttering a gently reproachful, "Mana."

Mana raised her head to look at her childhood friend and smiled at him as she flicked her eyes between him and the other tanned man. She then let go of the blonde girl in her arms and introduced herself to the explorers, "**I'm Mana! Nice to meet you all!**" Introductions were made and pretty soon everyone knew that Mana was a cheerfully bubbly young woman; and a hugger. She was more like a little girl than Rebecca was personality-wise, but she was obviously closer age-wise to Shizuka. Her eyes sparkled in friendliness as she turned to Atemu and asked, "**Are you on your way to the Throne Room?**" Atemu nodded to which she squealed and clapped her hands together as she replied, "**Well then, Shishou will be so distracted by you guys to scold me for missing practice! Best if I go in with you and creep past him.**" She seemed overly cheered by this idea.

Atemu chuckled as the Heba look-alike grinned at her and warned, "**I wouldn't expect Mahado to forget about something that is such a daily occurrence that the guards just point in the direction you ran when he comes thundering down the corridors.**" Ryou and Mokuba also laughed as Mana scrunched up her nose at her friend's words.

Waving a dismissive hand, Mana just pouted, "**That's why I'll be using you guys as a distraction to sneak past him; I already know he'll scold me eventually. I just don't want eventually to be so soon.**" She grinned mischievously at her friends as they chuckled at her words. The explorers might not know the dynamics of Mana and 'Mahado' but they could understand the humor of the situation and most were grinning as well; the brunette's cheekiness was infectious.

It was only until Keith cleared his throat in an aggravated manner that they all realized that he was scowling at them all. Some had noticed his sour expression but had simply ignored him and he was pissed off at the delay. His patience running thin, Keith pushed, "**Are we going?**"

Everyone narrowed their eyes at him, even Ryou, but it was Mana who blinked twice and replied without thinking, "**What mentally-underprivileged tape-worm crawled up your ass and died?**" There was silence for all of seven milliseconds before Marik, Malik, Bakura, Honda, Otogi, Mokuba, Jou, Yami, and Atemu all burst out laughing as Ryou, Heba, his Atlantean look-alike, Rebecca, and Shizuka quickly tried to stifle their giggles behind their hands. Even Mai chuckled next to him and Keith's face turned purple with rage. Mana sent a sideways flick of her eyes to Atemu and said under her breath, "**Wy yry'nn mi-t **(I don't like him)."

Yami, Heba, and the Atlanteans smiled at her Ancient Egyptian words, but it was Seto who replied, **_~I don't like him either.~_ **Keith heard and understood that and Seto didn't even try being polite about it. He just flat out insulted him so that Keith knew they were talking about him and could understand him; and Seto still didn't care. His disdainful sapphire eyes didn't even flicker in Keith's direction as he turned towards Atemu and 'said'_, **~But we do need to get going. Gods forbid if one of the Councilmen are sent into heart palpitations.~**_A sarcastic eye roll accompanied the comment at the likelihood of _that_ and turned away to continue down the corridor at his regular stately pace. Everyone fell into step behind the silver dragon, completely ignoring the still furious Keith, and resumed chatting or staring around the room in wonder.

Mokuba piped in, **_~Mom and Dad weren't angry when you last saw them were they?~_ **His posture was still a little uncertain at the possibility of his parents still being mad at him and his brother for leaving without a word.

Mana smiled at the grayish-silver dragon and replied, "**Last time I saw them was a couple hours ago, and no they weren't. Isis told Seth that you guys would come back safe so there was no real cause for concern. It was mostly Kisara that was most worried, but Seth calmed her down relatively quickly. The one's that were about to start a witch-hunt for you guys was Shishou, Karim, and Shada.**" Atemu, Seto, and Mana rolled their eyes as Atemu's suspicions were confirmed.

Marik repeated himself, "**I don't know what Shada and Karim's excuses are, but Mahado needs to get laid to get rid of all that stress.**" Everyone (that mattered anyway) chuckled in mirth except for Mana who narrowed her eyes at Marik.

Irritatedly, Mana replied, "**Please refrain from talking about my _teacher _like that.**" She even shuddered a bit as Atemu and Marik laughed a bit more.

Jou scrunched up his nose as he said, "**I feel ya. Da only ting more disgustin' dan tinkin' of yer teacher havin' sex is da tought of yer _parents _havin' sex**." Several of the group and the dragons shuddered in disgust at the mental-image that _that _produced.

It was Malik who grinned and cheekily replied, "**And your siblings.**" Several explorers shuddered and Jou paled as he pulled his sister closer to his side while she blushed. Seto sent Malik a dirty look as Mokuba's dragon face assumed a comical look of disgust. Marik grimaced as Malik laughed at his reaction.

Yami rolled his eyes as he replied, "**Just a little gross but not enough for me to really care.**" Heba just blushed harder as Otogi and Honda laughed. Only Bakura noticed that Ryou had assumed a haunted expression as the already pale Atlantean paled even further. Bakura narrowed his eyes at the other white-haired male while Ryou kept his eyes down-cast, not noticing the other man's stare, as they continued down the corridor.

They all joked and teased each other the entire way to the Throne Room, until they reached a very large closed door with two…creatures guarding either side of it. Yami had never seen these before, at least not in terms of Duel Monsters. They were both two-headed jackals that stood upright and were covered in golden armor with light blue embellishments; both held a blue shield in one arm and the other arm held a battle-axe. Their brown fur was a little wild and their four sets of red eyes glistened menacingly; if that wasn't enough to put Yami on his guard then it was the large claws that adorned their hands and feet. They looked like something that had stepped out of Egyptian mythology.

Before Yami could ask what in the hell they were, the two humanoid jackals noticed their approach and silently opened the doors for them. The Atlanteans continued on as though there was nothing at all strange about two-headed jackal-creatures opening their doors for them; and for all Yami knew this was normal for them. But Yami and the other explorers were all feeling a little wigged-out at the sight of the creatures; they had gotten used to the dragons and they had yet to meet anything that looked as strange as these things, so to suddenly be reminded that there were creatures here that would most likely be beyond their wildest dreams and nightmares was a little unsettling. The explorers continued through the door, feeling the hair on the backs of their necks stand on edge as one of the jackal heads on each guard turned to watch them as the other stayed staring straight ahead.

The explorers focused ahead as the dragons moved out of their line of sight and they were finally able to see the Throne Room. The room itself was _enormous_, with a vaulted ceiling which allowed for the space needed for the dragons. It was decorated very similarly to the corridor they had passed through, white walls decorated with Egyptian hieroglyphs, flowing Atlantean script, and cuneiform; decorated with gold, silver, platinum, and jewels, making the room sparkle. Malik almost went into heart palpitations from the sight and Keith gained a sparkle of greed in his eyes that he still hid from behind his dark sun-glasses. Mai almost swooned at the sight of all the wealth and no one was unimpressed by the sight of the beautiful room. Yami and Heba knew what this room symbolized; it was the all-around symbol of just how wealthy this kingdom was and it had been created to be shown off to foreign dignitaries as a sign of intimidation, that if they were _this _wealthy then they would be more than able to pay for a war against anyone stupid enough to try to fight them. Yami and Heba were definitely impressed. Across the room, directly ahead of them and following the crimson-red rug, was a raised dais that sat two thrones side-by-side; what surprised Yami and Heba though was that these did not follow the Egyptian theme. Most thrones were pompous-looking and these definitely had signs of wealth to it, but these one's were by no means uncomfortable-looking like most thrones normally seemed. These two fit with the overall theme of the room on the outside, but the actual seats and backrests were filled with plush leather cushions that were dyed a deep crimson-red; which looked infinitely more comfortable-looking than most other thrones that Yami and Heba had seen on previous expeditions.

The two thrones were empty at the moment, unlike the other four-out-of-six chairs that were to the right and left of the two thrones on a lower set of the dais. Two-of-the-three on the right of the thrones were occupied by two tanned men. One was a 6 foot, very muscular man that wore a white skirt-like shenti with a sash-like strap that went diagonally across his chest to his one shoulder; his bob-cut black hair was very reminiscent of a stereotypical Egyptian haircut, and he wore a slim band of gold around his head. He also wore a golden pectoral across his muscled chest and golden armbands on his powerful biceps. He wore matching armbands on his wrists, and on his left arm he also wore a flaring golden bracer that was stylized much like a bird wing. A blue and golden belt was cinched at his waist to hold his clothes in place and his feet had Egyptian-styled sandals. His face was masculinely handsome with high cheek-bones, a patrician nose, and a strong jaw with a cleft in his bronze chin; his dark-green eyes were accented by kohl, though not stylized like Marik, Malik, and Mana's. Clasped in his right hand was a balance scale made out of pure gold that he seemed to handle with great care; Yami thought he saw an eye carved into the metal that resembled the one that had been on his little Puzzle Box. He was scowling at nothing in particular and his eyes burned with a deep loyalty and protectiveness.

The second man was just as tall as the first man but he wore a long, tan, sleeveless shenti with a white cloak, his shenti was also cinched at the waist with a blue and golden belt. He wore a pair of golden armbands on his toned biceps, a pair of matching golden triple-banded armbands at his wrists, and golden hoop-earrings. He also wore sandals on his feet, and his hood was thrown back to show that he was totally bald with a stylized black tattoo across his forehead. His dark blue eyes were piercing in their intensity that the kohl around his eyes only seemed to enhance; he looked like a serious man who frowned more often then he smiled. Around his neck, he wore a large golden ankh with a strange appendage at the bottom that made it look similar to a key. He was physically imposing, just like the man seated next to him, but he seemed to be in better control; calm and still compared to the fierceness of the one next to him, like the stillness of a cobra waiting to strike as opposed to the scorpion with claws and stinger already raised

On two-of-the-thee chairs to the left of the two thrones was another tall man and woman, with another man crouched on the floor in front of the woman holding her hand and seemed to be soothing her. The seated man was at least six feet tall, it was hard to tell since he was seated, but the white and gold headpiece that would have been used to keep the sun out of his face in the hot sun if he were outside added an extra three inches to his height. He was tall and lean, but Yami could also see the muscle underneath all his clothes; he wasn't as powerfully built as the first man, but he was definitely toned and prepared for battle. He wore a white sleeveless shenti that was also cinched at the waist by another blue and gold belt and the shenti went all the way down to his ankles, seeming more like a dress than anything else. Golden armor adorned his shoulders and around his neck which held up his billowing white cloak. His belt had a strange amount of small golden-silk pouches that swayed as he moved as well as a pair of golden armbands on his lean biceps and golden triple-banded bands were affixed at his wrists. Instead of sandals, he wore a pair of white soft-soled shoes, very similar to what the Heba look-alike was wearing. His tanned face was a bit lighter in tone than the other two men, as though he spent most of his time indoors, but he was still darker than Yami or Jou; his kohl-outlined and stylized eyes were so dark a purple that in a darker light they might have appeared black. In one hand he held a tall black staff that gleamed with a greenish undertone, the bottom in a flat-looking blade shape while the top was a circular piece partially cut out in layers and inside the concaved piece was circular gem of the same color, while the back end of the staff raised above it to form a triangular 'hood' over it. Yami thought he saw a hint of gold wink from within the depths of the gem before it went to being its original blackish green. Yami noticed that his other hand was clenched so tightly on the arm of his chair that his knuckles had gone white. He gave off the aura of someone who was very tightly wound but also of someone that was also very powerful, and not just in a physical sense; he seemed to exude an aura of mystery and cunning, but also of fierce protectiveness. His essence seemed to make him even larger than he actually was; as though his aura made him larger than life. If Yami had seen him in a fantasy movie, he would have said that he felt of magic.

The second man was tall as well, though it was hard to tell just how tall since he was, not only crouched in front of the last of the seated chairs, but he was also wearing a largish blue hat with golden embellishments that shielded his neck and formed a golden bird with outstretched wings above his face. Yami couldn't see much of him since his face was in profile, but he could tell that the last man was very attractive; though nothing in comparison to his little twins' look-alike. Unlike the others in the room, he wore a royal-blue sleeveless shenti with white pants and golden embellishments. His gold pectoral and shoulder armor held up the white cloak that cascaded behind him, the same color as his pants which made Yami unsure where one ended and the other began. He wore a pure golden belt around his waist, matching gold armbands on his tanned biceps, and the same golden triple-banded armbands around his wrists that the other males seemed to like wearing. His golden armor trailed downward to help form an ankh that took up a big majority of his chest, and this was a man who definitely worked out; his chest not only filled out the cloth encasing it but, but also tightened the cloth enough to show every dip and indentation of his chest and abdomen, like the first man would if he had worn a shirt. This was a man who trained for battle and did extra exercise outside of his training, or maybe because of his training; his shoulders were certainly broad enough. Broad shoulders tapered down and inward to a lean waist while the billowy-looking pants hid what Yami had no doubt were muscular legs. On his feet, the last man had white shoes very similar to the one seated beside him. Yami noticed all this and felt absolutely nothing; not that he had been expecting to feel anything. The man radiated an aura of confidence and power that was very similar to the one that he and Atemu also gave off; though this one was tempered with a steely coldness that his, Yami did not doubt, an absolutely cunning mind. Yami knew, instinctively, that this was a man who would give him a run for his money in terms of strategy and Yami could feel his muscles clench in anticipation of having a battle of wits with this man. Based on his aura and stately robes, if Yami had to guess, he would say that this man was their king.

What Yami really noticed though was that hand that the last man was holding, uncharacteristically tenderly in his own; Yami thought he caught a hint of warm-glowing gold in between their clasped hand, and Yami assumed it to be a ring based on it's placement, but Yami was to far away to get a good look. The woman seated before the kingly man had her hand clasped in his and he seemed to be trying to sooth her; but it was just how _pale _she was that Yami really noticed. The woman was not only pale, she was very nearly translucent white. She was also quite obviously the most _gorgeous _woman that Yami had ever set eyes on, and he had been all over the world and had seen _a lot_ a beautiful women; her beauty put Mai, and even his ex-fiancé Anzu for that matter, to shame. She wore a simple white sleeveless dress with small golden embellishments on the embroidery, a golden belt around her tiny waist, a pair of golden armbands in the shape of dragon-heads meeting at each other like a torque on her slim wrists, and a pair of gold and white sandals on her delicate feet. Her white cloak was held in place by a small pectoral around her upper chest and throat; but unlike the other jewelry in the room, her pectoral was made up almost entirely of silver scales with bluish tints that Yami immediately recognized. Her face looked as though she had been crafted by angels and her calf-length hair was silver with bluish undertones. Her face was scrunched up in worry as her sapphire-blue eyes nearly _glowed _from behind a section of silver hair that fell in front of her face. Yami felt a niggling sensation as his instincts fired up, but his brain simply refused to wrap around what his eyes were so obviously pointing out to him. Because Yami's eyes could see, though his brain refused to elaborate, that the unknown woman's hair and eyes looked _exactly _like Seto's scales and the two dragon's eyes.

Yami had looked around the room and noticed all of this in a few seconds so everyone was still technically stepping into the room, which meant that it was only now that the occupants of the room noticed them; and Yami's brain was then invariable fed truth as the young woman leapt up from her seat, her eyes shining with relief and happiness, as she yelled out, "**SETO! MOKUBA!**" Her voice was a mezzo-soprano and Yami assumed that her tone was normally soft-spoken and gentle, but right that moment her voice carried throughout the entire room. The other occupants in the room stood when they caught sight of the explorers and their Atlantean guides, and Yami noticed more than a few relieved faces on the occupants faces before they all fell into the political polite-blank face that all politicians had; their masks. Only the unknown woman's face remained open which led Yami to believe she wasn't on the Council; which was only further proved as she ran towards the dragons with outstretched arms.

Yami's friends and the rest of the crew watched in puzzlement as the strange woman ran towards them, but then Mokuba rushed forward to meet he in the middle with an excited, **_~Mom!~_** Jou could feel his jaw drop and his eyes pop open wide with disbelief, and he could see out of the corner of his eyes that everyone else except for Yami and Bakura (and the Atlanteans, of course) had also assumed similar expressions as his; but his eyes stayed fixed on the strangely fluid grayish dragon as he ran towards the silver-haired woman.

Seto stepped to the side to allow his brother to pass by him and turned his head to glance at the blonde mutt's expression; quickly holding his snort of amusement in at the idiotic expression, thinking _He really does look like a dog with his mouth open like that. I half-expect him to stick his tongue out and start panting. _Seto's mind immediately sent him an image of the mutt doing just that, but to a very different scene, with a very different expression, and for a very different reason; Seto immediately shook his head to dispel such thoughts from his head. About that moment his mother and Mokuba finally reached each other, and Mokuba lowered his head to have his mom wrap her herself around his muzzle and look into his sapphire-blue dragon-eyes, so like her own, to ascertain how he was. All Kisara saw was a deep-seated happiness that she knew all too well in her son's eyes and no pain; so she allowed herself to finally take the deep breath that she hadn't allowed herself to since she found her two sons gone. Speaking of which, she looked over at her oldest son and saw that he was unharmed, but more than that he was looking at something with an expression that she had never seen before; and one which only she, her mate, Atemu, Yugi, or Mokuba would have noticed. Glancing in the direction he was sending glances to, Kisara noticed the explorers for the first time and followed her son's gaze to a tall blonde male who was holding the arm of a pretty teenage girl with auburn hair and a blindfold over her eyes.

Her maternal intuition immediately flaring, she instinctively sent her emotions and thoughts to her mate and life-partner; who she felt striding across the room to stand behind her. She released Mokuba and he excitedly turned to his father and 'said', **_~Dad! Dad! You two have to come meet someone!~ _**Kisara felt a hand slip into hers and felt the familiar tingle of awareness that she always felt when her mate touched her, she turned her head to glance at him as he raised her hand to place a quick kiss on the back of her hand. She smiled at her handsome mate as she saw felt his rush of relief that his sons were home safe and that they had most likely found their mates. Releasing her mate, she allowed her younger son to 'lead' her towards the same blonde man that Seto had been eyeing; Kisara saw that her youngest's eyes were fixated on the auburn-haired young girl attached to the man.

Said blonde opened his mouth and exhaled, "**Oooooohhh, you guys are adopted. Dat's how yer dad can be on de Council dat you were talkin' 'bout.**"

Mokuba and Kisara blinked their eyes, the Atlanteans raised their brows at the assumption, and Seto and Seth both scrunched their noses up at his coarse accent. Mana began chuckling and Kisara grinned at the blonde man in her amusement as she replied, "**Oh, no, young man. I'm _very _much Seto and Mokuba's mother. Just as much as my mate, Seth, is their father.**" The woman gestured to the blue and white dressed man that Yami had assumed to be king from earlier, the same one that had been holding her hand.

All of the non-Atlanteans felt their faces pull down into puzzled frowns, but it was Mokuba who nuzzled his face into Shizuka's hand and 'said', **_~Mom, Dad, this is Shizuka, and her older brother Jou. Shizuka, Jou, these are my parents, Kisara and Seth.~_**

Jou immediately held his hand out to shake their hands but him and his sister were instead wrapped into the older woman's arms as she hugged both of them and enthused repeatedly, "**Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, for bringing my sons home. It's so very nice to meet you both. And your friends here.**"

Jou was feeling out of sorts from the woman's squeezing and instinctively sent Seto a look of bewilderment. The silver-haired woman released them as Jou replied back, "**Uh, yer welcome, I guess? I don't tink I really did anyting to bring 'em back, but okay.**" Jou was sending bewildered and uncertain glances between the woman and Seto as Mokuba just laughed beside them all. "**Parents, huh?**" Jou rubbed the back of his neck as he wondered if the Atlanteans were just getting their words confused.

It was Rebecca who shook her head and swayed her hands back and forth as she said, "**Wait, wait, wait; back it up. What do you mean you're their parents? They're dragons!**"

The dragon family blinked and it was Mokuba who piped up, **_~Technically, all four of us are half dragon.~_ **And then a white mist enveloped both brothers before dissipating completely a few seconds later. In their places were two males; one was a young teenager who looked maybe fourteen years old, with long unruly black hair, charcoal-grey eyes, and was dressed in a tan and white shenti with a bright orange cloak and a light blue bandana around his throat. He was taller than Rebecca but shorter than Shizuka and he grinned boyishly at the stunned explorers. The other male was an exact replica of Seth, except for their clothes and his neat chestnut hair could actually be seen unlike his father's. Stately robes of deep blue and black snuggly encased his body, accentuating his toned body, as his customary dark blue cloak billowed out behind him. His eyes were still the same icy sapphire that he had in his dragon form and the same color as his mother's was now. Except for that feature, and the fact that he and his brother were pale unlike his bronzed father, Seto was almost a perfect carbon-copy of his father; right down to the delicious body that Jou now couldn't stop staring at.

The dumb-founded blonde blinked a few times as the other explorers gaped at the dragon-men in astonishment. It was Heba who whispered in awe, "**I had read that there were shape-shifters but I hadn't actually believed it. Until now.**"

That seemed to break the spell as everyone began talking at once; the cacophony was so loud that Atemu had to use his Pharaoh voice to be heard. "**SILENCE!**" There was silence as everyone stopped what they were doing to stare mutely at the man. Atemu quieted his tone and said calmly, "**Wherever it is that you heard that there are shape-shifters in Atlantis, it is correct. However,**" he cut off whatever Heba was about to ask when he had noticed the other male's mouth open, "**you will have your questions answered _after _you have been granted safety and guest-rights by the monarchy and the Council. Until then, we must wait until everyone is here before we start.**" Mana was using this as an opportune time to sneak hastily away since her master's notice was currently on Atemu. "**In the meantime, I wish to give out introductions to everyone present.**"

Atemu gave out instruction and it turned out that the strong man with the scales was named Priest Karim, the bald man with the tattoo was named Priest Shada, the woman was merely called Lady Kisara, mother to Seto and Mokuba, and wife of the man dressed the most formally High Priest Seth, and the last man who held the staff and who Yami had felt the aura of power was Royal Magician Mahado. The non-Atlanteans were introduced to them all and Yami felt that something strange was going on; aside from the fact that the two dragons were actually half-humans and had just shape-shifted in front of them. Yami couldn't help but notice that the other Atlanteans seemed to be giving Atemu _a lot _of leeway; after all, this was the Royal Council and they were just letting Atemu be so cavalier with them. Perhaps he was a a nobleman's son, and they were just too familiar with him to think anything of it? He did notice that the other's seemed to have just as much respect for the Heba look-alike whose name Yami _still _had yet to learn. The other Atlanteans ignored Marik or sent him small glances to make sure he wasn't doing anything he shouldn't be, while Ryou quietly stood over next to Kisara as he eyed the others in the room with a slight uneasiness that Yami couldn't place. It was almost as though the white-haired man thought they were going to hurt him or something and was on guard so that he wouldn't be hit. Yami also noticed that Bakura had noticed the strange man's behavior as well and was scowling in his direction.

Atemu was off near the three Priests and Royal Magician and seemed to be conversing with them in low whispers. Kisara was simply chatting with Jou and Shizuka, getting to know them and Yami was suddenly feeling smug as he realized that his hypothesis now had a solid foundation; especially with the looks that the silver-haired woman was sending between her two sons and the siblings. Mokuba was beside her and chatting just as animatedly as Seto leaned against the wall and simply watched everything that was going on; just like Yami was. Heba was conversing with Rebecca and Malik, probably answering some questions since he had his Journal out, while Keith and Mai and their bodyguards were completely ignored and talked amongst the four of themselves. Otogi and Honda were nearest Jou and Shizuka so they were listening to whatever Kisara was saying and they smiled frequently whenever she addressed them.

Before Yami realized what had happened, five minutes had passed of him just silently observing what was going on, when he suddenly heard Atemu's voice over a lull in the noise, "**_Where _is Isis and Siamun?**" Atemu didn't sound angry, just frustrated, and Yami assumed that Isis and Siamun were the two missing people needed for the Council to convene; which meant that Siamun was the king. Yami found it interesting that Atemu was allowed to address his king by his given name; that meant that Atemu was either a really lose relative or friend, or he was being rude and presumptuous; and Yami didn't think it was the latter.

Yami was interrupted by his thoughts as a familiar voice sounded behind them, "**We are right here. I see you all made it back in one piece.**" The patiently mused voice sent a chill of recognition through his spine as Yami was immediately sent back to years ago, when it was him, his brother, and his Grandpa. He had heard that voice everyday of his life up until three years ago. He felt the blood rush from his head as he pivoted on his heel, not believing his ears and he saw his brother do the same a few feet away from him. There, standing in the opened doors that they had come through less than ten minutes ago, stood a beautiful young woman with tanned skin, purplish-grey eyes outlined by kohl, wearing a long white sleeveless dress that was held in place with the small pectoral across her throat, gold armbands across her biceps and wrists, a blue and gold belt fastened around her trim waist with a few dangling golden threads hanging low on her hips, and she wore a white headdress that billowed down to form a slight cape that was decorated by a golden piece that framed her face and formed a beautiful golden bird; and at her throat, Yami recognized a pure golden necklace that was centered around that same eye symbol that Yami had seen before.

But it was the snort tanned man walking next to her that caught and held all of Yami's attention. For a split second, Yami thought his Grandpa had come back from the dead and had come to see them; except then his watering eyes kicked in and he saw that this man was tanned, unlike his pale-skinned Grandpa, and also this man wore clothes that he had never seen his Grandpa in. Yami felt his heart squeeze in is chest painfully as he realized that this man was not his Grandpa, and was in fact, a doppelganger much like he was to Atemu, Heba was to his look-alike, and Seto was to Seth; close, but not the same person. Blinking his tears away, Yami was able to focus more on the short old man; he looked like a bronzed version of his grandfather, right down to the amethyst-colored eyes, except for the clothes. This man wore a tan robe with a black cross-sashed cloak, a golden armband on his left wrist that flared outward in the shape of a bird wing, and a tall blue hat that sat on his grey spikes with a golden kobra on top of that same golden eye as decorations on the hat.

Behind him, Yami heard his twin's quickly choked off sob and Yami turned to look at his twin. Heba's eyes were so watery that Yami feared that if he blinked then the tears would spill over, but Heba only stared mutely at his Grandpa's look-alike and felt his heart rip in two. Gritting his teeth to hold in the tears, Heba tried to calm himself; he and Yami were pulled out of their grief as pain-filled voice croaked, "**Ishizu?**"

Everyone looked at Malik to see him staring at the woman with haunted, tear-filled eyes; the woman, Isis, could only stare at the young man who looked very similar to her younger brother and venture carefully, "**That is not my name, young man. I am Isis, Priestess and Royal Healer. I do not know who this Ishizu of yours is, but I am not she.**" Marik glided over to his mate, as Malik's face crumpled and he tried to hold back his tears. He closed his eyes as he swallowed his tears, and then he took a deep shuddering breath, all before Marik finally got to him.

Malik rubbed his suddenly cold arms as his haunted gaze fell to the floor and he replied, "**Of course you're not. She's paler than you are, and I she's been dead for almost fifteen years; so you can't be her. Silly me.**" He sent her a weak grin, a pale shadow compared to his normally mischievous expression; and Isis didn't believe it for a second.

Turning to her younger brother, Isis commanded, "**Marik, take this man to my healing chambers; he doesn't need to be around me if the sight of me causes him such pain.**" Marik, though he doesn't normally listen to his sister, heeded her advice and took his mate's elbow and led him away; though not towards her healing chamber, but towards his own room where he knew his mate would be 'safest'. Malik went without a word, not seeming to see anything in front of him, as he was led out the door.

Isis and Siamun saw the remaining new faces and Isis also noticed the similarly grief-stricken faces on two of them as they watched Siamun. Opening her mouth to say something in regards to those two as well, the man who was obviously Atemu's aten'kheftu glanced over at her and shook his head. She immediately closed her mouth and saw that he was already mostly over his grief, and the other one was quickly pulling himself together right in front of Isis' eyes. Deciding to keep quiet on the subject, Isis instead turned back to Atemu and said, "**Since everyone is now here, shall we move along?**

Atemu nodded his head and Karim, Seth, Shada, and Mahado retook their seats. Kisara and Mokuba went to stand over by Seto and Ryou and the Heba look-alike joined them as the explorers congregated around each other to unconsciously show that they were a group; even though they hated Keith and Mai. Yami was puzzled though when Kisara went to the wall, wasn't she a Priestess as well; but then he realized that Seto had said his father was on the Council, not his mother, and that the seat Kisara had been sitting in belonged to Seth. He was further confused as Isis and Siamun went and sat in the two empty seats beside the thrones; Siamun next to Shada and Karim, while Isis sat near Seth and Mahado. However, Yami's eyes widened in comprehension a split second before Atemu made his way up to the top of the dais and sat comfortably in the throne on the right; his ruby-red eyes sparkling in amusement at the stunned faces bellow him. Schooling his features, Atemu proclaimed, "**Now then, let's get this show on the road.**"

Yami was the first to recover his shock and asked incredulously, "**_You're _the Atlantean king?!**" Screw composure, Yami was just discovering that an alternate version of himself was the king of a mythical and wealthy kingdom that had sank beneath the ocean several thousand years ago. Anyone would be freaking out under these conditions. Everyone else around him was still gaping at Atemu like a school of fish; Yami almost laughed at the amusing mental image of his friends and twin as fish.

Atemu raised a brow and replied back, "**Technically, I am not King yet. The ruling of Atlantis is always done in twos, so I must find the one who the other crown accepts; until that day, I am not officially King and I rule alongside my Council. However, I do have _some _power, and one of those is the power to grant you safety so long as you are within my city, just so long as two-thirds of my Council agrees as well. However, my people must come first and I must see to their safety before I allow strangers to reside in my kingdom. So, you will state your cases and make your intentions clear before we just allow you to stay. You may begin your case.**

Heba's mind was racing a mile a minute and Yami could almost see the new hypotheses and questions forming in his little twin's expressive eyes. Unsurprisingly, it was Keith who opened his mouth and tried to assert himself as the leader, "**Your Majesty,**" it didn't hurt to be polite, not-knowing that everyone there could feel that he was only being a kiss-ass, "**on behalf of my crew, may I say that it is an honor to be welcomed to your city.**"

Yami raised a brow and muttered under his breath, "We haven't been invited yet, presumptuous bastard." The Atlanteans heard and understood him and Atemu flicked a quick glance at Karim, accompanied by a subtle gesture, before turning his attention back to the oily man.

Atemu called Keith on it and said stoically, "**You presume much, to think that you are already welcome here.**"

Keith blinked at the rebuttal, but he continued doggedly, "**Oh, but Sirs and Madams, we have come a long way looking for-**"he was cut off by a rather surprising person.

Siamun, his normally cheerful eyes ice cold, stated knowingly, "**We know what you seek, and you will not find it here. Your journey has been in vain.**" Everyone else in the Council and Atemu sent Siamun a small glance, imperceptible to the other, but conveying nonetheless. They had no idea what Vizier Siamun was talking about; not one of them.

Keith replied back, trying to keep his temper in at having this old man tell him what to do, Keith tried for a reasonable tone and said, "**But we are peaceful explorers, men of science.**" Atemu sent an imperceptible glance at Karim to which the other male subtly shook his head; stating that the fake leader's words were false, since Karim's Millennium Scale was weighing the lies and darkness in Keith's heart as he spoke. Atemu narrowed his eyes at the scruffy-looking blonde as he contemplated what to do.

Atemu trusted his Karims judgment, and he didn't like the oily blonde anyway, so he was willing to go along with Siamun's refusal; after all, it only had to do with the fake leader, and nothing to do with the Atlantean mates. Their mates were staying no matter what, but it would make them feel more secure if they had their friends near them; so Atemu was willing to put his people on guard about certain people just so long as nothing bad happened. But first, to find out just how bad this one was. Continuing Siamun's outlook, Atemu said stonily, "**And yet you bring weapons.**" He waved towards the pistol holster strapped to Keith's side as he spoke.

Keith quickly came up with a half-truth, "**Our weapons allow us to remove… obstacles we may encounter.**" The scale made a slight _tink_ing sound as the one side dropped all the way to the side and hit the table it was on; the sound was too subtle for Keith to notice but all the other Atlanteans had been watching the golden scale shift to the side and drop downward with each word the blonde said and they noticed.

Atemu wanted to try for a bit more leeway with the others, but Isis spoke icily, "**Some obstacles cannot be removed with a mere show of force.**" The other Atlanteans nodded as they reached the same decision that Isis had.

Siamun stood and proclaimed to the blonde, "**Return to your people. You must leave Atlantis, at once.**" Atemu really wanted the blonde to go but he saw the others, his and his friends mates and their friends, faces fall as they realized that they wouldn't be allowed to stay.

Keith opened his big mouth and was about to threaten the short monarch, but Yami butted, "**May I respectfully request that we stay for a few days, at least? That would give us time to rest, resupply, and be ready to travel back.**"

Atemu had just been waiting for this opportunity and the Councilmen watched in interest as Karim's Scales righted themselves showing that Yami meant everything he had said; and he did, even if Yami had to hogtie Keith to the Drill himself, he would keep his word and leave after a few days with no fuss just so long as he got a chance to be with his little Atlantean soul-mate. The Atlanteans shared looks with each other and turned to Atemu; the choice was, ultimately, his. Atemu sent them on the Council's private telepathic wave, _~I know that the blonde must at least go, but we cannot make them all go away; our mates will feel suspicious and on their guard if we single only them out and tell them they must stay. Better they should have some friends with them.~_

The Councilmen glanced around at each other again, but it was Siamun who 'said', _~I think it would be better if they not stay, Prince Atemu.~_

Atemu glanced at Siamun in puzzlement, Siamun was normally the least opinionated of the group, but he just did not seem to like Keith. Hitting an idea, Atemu proposed, _~How about if we give them a three day trial-period, but the requirement is that each of them is given someone to guard them from getting into any trouble. Each of the guards will actually be ascertaining if their charge is actually a threat to the city and those that the guards say are, will be sent back to the surface and their minds erased; while those that pass the trial will get to stay longer. Our mates will feel safer with friends around, the City itself will be safer for them and our people, and we'll have the added bonus of each 'guarding' our mates do we can begin our courtships.~ _The Councilmen raised their brows, impressed with their monarch's strategy and thought it over; they talked it over some more and finally voted. Mahado, the most magically sensitive of the group, had a bad feeling regarding this idea, and Seth, who felt that their were a bit too many random factors that could spell for disaster in his opinion; only they were the two that voted against the plan. Still, it was monarch plus exactly two-thirds of the Council that voted for the plan which meant that it was their coarse of action.

Speaking aloud, Atemu addressed the explorers, who had been waiting ten minutes for an answer and were shifting their weights slightly from foot-to-foot, and stated, "**Very well. Every one of you will have three days as a trial period, and if you behave yourselves you will get to stay; individuals who do not pass will be sent away after the three days are up. Those of you that are deemed safe may stay longer. However,**" he cut off the early celebration of some of the explorers, "**each individual will have an Atlantean guard, whose job will be to make sure you are not doing anything wrong. This is nonnegotiable.**

Yami understood and nodded and felt his friends and twin nod behind him; though Bakura's was a little wary. Keith gritted his teeth at the sudden speed-bump in his plan, but decided that he could work with it. He too nodded his consent, though he had no idea that the Council and Atemu had already decided to send his ass packing after the three day period; he had already failed his test, he was not welcome in Atlantis. Keith sounding like the kiss-ass he was, smiled ingratiatingly and said, "**Thank you, Your Majesty.**"

Atemu had already categorized who would guard who; and he told them. Atemu would be paired with Heba (when questioned, Atemu stated, "Why should I be excused just because I am royalty? Besides, you are the twin of my aten'kheftu, and the least threatening of the lot." Yami and Atemu had laughed as Heba pouted.), Yami was paired with Atemu's little cousin the Atlantean 'Heba', Seto was paired with Jou ("Why do I have to be paired with this brainless mutt?" "Why do I have ta be followed around by dis asshole?" "Because I ordered you to and because your siblings are paired up as well, and I figured you two big brothers would want to watch over them to make sure neither of them got into trouble. Now suck it up and deal with it."), Mokuba was paired with Shizuka, Marik was paired with Malik (Isis promised to tell them; just as soon as she could find them), Ryou was paired with Bakura (to which the smaller male had run away as fast as he could in a panic with a frustrated russet-eyed man chasing after him), Isis was paired with Mai, Mahado was paired with Keith (_~You are the only one I trust to be strong enough and crafty enough to watch over him without him causing trouble, my friend.~ ~Yes, Atemu.~_), Mana was to be paired with Rebecca ("Where _has _that girl gone, I thought I saw her with you all earlier when you came in but now she's gone. She never showed up to this afternoon's lessons, either." "She'll show up eventually; most likely when you're not chasing after her anymore Mahado." "She needs to learn to control her magic, and she can't do that when she doesn't show up for class."), Karim was to be assigned to Otogi, and Shada was assigned to Honda.

* * *

**Hi everyone! Sorry this took so freakin' long! Someone posted not to end this series, and I have absolutely _no _intention of doing that! I just finally got to Atlantis, I'm not gonna stop! These are the parts where I had all my great ideas, and I refuse to stop until I'm finished!**

**Here's what the problem was; I found an awesome sight that has Japanese versions of old-time animes that I never got to watch properly, and I rediscovered a piece of my childhood. Digimon. Oh, my, Ra. I had not seen this in years and I suddenly found it in the Japanese version with English subtitles; I was in heaven (English dubs always _suck!_). So I've been watching those and I haven't had much time to get this done, which is why it took so long. I _also _got reintroduced to One Piece (I hated the English dub when I was younger so I didn't get very into it) and I read the _entire _series (715 chapter currently) in less than three weeks; so that had a major role in my not-getting-much-done-mood as well. But the main problem to my procrastination, because I could have read and watched One Piece and Digimon and still gotten this done faster, was that I got offered a job (temporary) last month, a couple weeks after I had just finished last chapter. I have to take a completely handwritten book and type it all out; that's my job. It's time-consuming and boring, but I'm getting paid to do it. Fair warning, I'm not done with it yet so the next chapter will most likely take a bit longer than normal as well; not nearly as long as this chapter was though (geez).**

**This chapter is actually thirty pages long. I was planning on having this include the first day of their being here, but I simply _had _to end this chapter here. It would be too much TT-TT. Anyway, in the original Atlantis The Lost Empire Movie, Kida's father only gave the explorers one day to rest; but I would never be able to put all the information I wanted to add in plus the courtships of four couples in only one day; I could never understand how it was that these Disney characters can just fall in love with someone in just one day, so I lengthened mine into three. It's not only easier for me, it also gives me more leeway to do what I want with the characters and add in all the little details I wanted to put in. So yay!**

**Anyway, just wanted to say how sorry I am for how long this was taking me and to please be patient for next chapter. I want to thank my viewers reviewers. Please review if you have anything you'd like to say or any ideas you'd like me to maybe put in.**

**Also, this has absolutely nothing to do with this story, but can you guys maybe give me examples of videogames that Jou might like playing; it has to have a storyline and a definitive ending, but something that the other characters you can see playing as well. Like, no Mortal Kombat cuz it I can't see Yugi playing it, no gun games like Call of Duty cuz that's more Honda's expertise, and no Dead Space cuz it's a scary game and Jou doesn't like horror games (if you ever watched the anime or read the manga you would know this). Something action packed or maybe sportsy, but it still has to have a definite ending point; maybe a racing game? I just need help with this, please. **


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